Eternal Eclipse
by hopscot
Summary: In a life clouded by darkness, mystery, and what could at best be described as cruel chaos the catalyst for the movement of peace lies in a sociopathic Cyndaquil of a hidden race. From protagonists of not much better characters to ambitious villains and even meddling legends the future does not look bright unfortunately. AU.
1. Take a Glimpse

Eternal Eclipse

**Hello, this is my made up story. Before we go on I would like to make some things clear. **

**Pokemon and their attacks may appear completely different than how they are presented in the games or anime. Some of this is for my preference, others are to keep this realistic (not that there won't be things here that fly in the face of logic and reason). One example is stats and levels which I honestly hate seeing in stories along with the limitation of four moves per Pokemon but I need to use them for certain types of Pokemon here. Characters settings and many other things will be taken from the manga, anime, and games but that won't be important to the plot, or even visible, for many chapters.**

**As this is an au I will be adding powers, terms, items, and etc. of my own creation into this story.**

**This is going to be a long story, not a short one.  
**

**Anyway, enjoy. The first few chapters are going to be short.**

**Chapter 1.**

* * *

_Once upon a time.. You know what? Let's not start this off with what the past was like. Right know I'd like to focus on the present. The present problem that I've been dreading the approach of for all of my long life.  
_

_This tale all centers on two small planets which connected to each other. Their seeming insignificance would have me laughing had I not known what lay waiting on them. The actions that took place on those two planets are the fault of the inhabitants, but they must face the outcome regardless.  
_

_Perhaps you would find some amusement in observing the beings on these rocks as well. I know when I'm to act, but until then they have to set the scene. Some catch my eye in particular. Many of them aren't supposed to be here. It scares me as I realize that they have gone unnoticed by me until now, but they themselves succeed in frightening me more. I have few worries for these planets, but they make me wonder just how much I've missed in my constant watch._

_Now where to start you off... I think that this will work fine._

* * *

"Awesome first mission, right guys?"

The voice cut through the air of the brisk winter day as four small pokemon marched through the thick coat of snow blanketing the ground of the forest area.

A Piplup in possession of a pink coat of feathers turned her head in the general direction of the Treecko who asked and gave a small nod. The Pichu walking right behind her twitched his ears trying to stay alert to their surroundings. He wore a pair of green goggles strapped on his forehead and had a humorless expression on his face.

The Treecko huffed at the lack of response and turned to the Squirtle next to him. "What do you think? None of our classmates could have pulled off such class on a first mission right Siri?" He patted a waist bag that he had strapped on as he spoke.

Siri gave him a smile. "Well, it did go a lot smoother than I hoped it would."

"We activated the alarm on the way out and got caught on tape," the Piplup pointed out. "That's far from smooth."

"Come on Star. For our first mission things could have gone a lot worse. Some adults couldn't have hacked that computer as quickly as Bolt did," the Treecko said.

"Feevo, I'm glad that we were able to get through that as quickly as we did but there were a lot of mistakes that we could have avoided." Star shook some snow off of her. She was completely comfortable in this weather, unlike Feevo as he shivered at the cold.

Not of the cold managed to drain the happiness out of him however. "We'll exercise and fix up our weak points. No one can help a mistake on their first try."

"How can you not help coming out of your hiding place to punch an unsuspecting Houndour in the face?" Star asked. Such behavior should have no excuse.

"I don't like fire types," Feevo replied simply. Star rolled her eyes.

Bolt's ears twitched once again as he picked up movement outside of their group. He made no other motion that he noticed anything.

The team said nothing more as they traveled through the forest in the direction of a nearby lake. They were dropped off at that lake and were told to return as soon as they completed their assignment. Feevo already called their lift and they should be gone from this forest soon if nothing gets in their way.

From the brush a Charmander watched them under a predatory gaze as they passed by him. He flexed his claws and inhaled deeply sending the oxygen straight to the flame of his tail which was dim in the day. He took a small step towards them, then stopped as he gave them a careful inspection. With a grunt he turned and walked away having lost interest. He turned his sights deeper into the forest and walked to where his senses guided him next. He sensed something. Well, he always sensed something but this time it was different and he saw no reason to not check it out. It was so boring here.

* * *

_This is a story I will tell as it happens. I know someone who knows of the outcome, but I don't have the knowledge myself. Working like this I've learned to find excitement in the unknown, though I can admit that I'm still scared. This wasn't a role that I was meant to take, but as long as I have it I will fight to protect what was bestowed upon me. I presently am not aware on whether or not this requires me to quarrel. Still, it would be pleasant if I could see you to the end, either way.__  
_

* * *

**And that's the first chapter. I have the second and third on written down but I'm not going to post them too fast.**

**EDIT: I've revised this chapter due to the unknown character no longer saying anything that goes with this story. Changes happened, so this happened.**

**Favorite or follow if you want but I'd like it if you dear people read, review and don't be afraid to criticize. That's the only way I can improve on my work.**

_-1101 wordcount_


	2. Along She Comes

**I know I said the first few chapters would be short but I had no idea that this one would take up so much space. Anyway, What I didn't mention in the first chapter is that this story can have random or erratic updating since I'm not the fastest writer or one who stays on focus for long. It may be a miracle that I even got this up. Oh yeah, I didn't mention this in the first chapter:**

**Disclaimer: (Pokemon and any part of its franchise do not belong to me. Anything I may have ripped off also do not belong to me.)**

**Chapter 2.**

* * *

Jewel floated comfortably in the blank void of her inner world that she was so fondly familiar with. She couldn't remember the last time she was here on a good note, and even now may not qualify as a good note. She knew that there were too many concerns for anyone to be relaxed, except for her. She felt little to no conflict over her recent situation and was merely at ease to go along with whatever came at her. It helped that she was quite comfortable in the Cyndaquil body she possessed but she truly couldn't find the sense to care if she wanted to. What happened then was not happening now and it was not yet the time to make plans. For now she would just listen to what her spirits had to say.

Jewel yawned. "This is far enough, ne?"

In front of her floated two other Cyndaquil. One had a completely white coat while the other was black. The black one sneered.

"You should have taught those pricks a lesson while you had the chance."

Jewel grinned. "Yeah, I should have."

The white Cyndaquil frowned. "You have no reason to make enemies Jewel. Putting as much distance between you and those renegades will bring us the least of trouble."

"But I like trouble. It gives me an excuse to fight someone," Jewel said.

Lithium, the black Cyndaquil nodded. "Yeah it does. We can still go back and mess around with those fools ya know." She was surprised when Jewel shook her head. "Why the hell not?"

"Going back there could lose us Raven and we need her power to get stronger," Jewel said.

This however agitated Lithium. "We can easily find someone else to get her abilities from."

Jewel kept her grin on. "Why should I find someone else when I've got the wind right behind me."

Lithium growled while Lacrosse, the white Cyndaquil, spoke up. "Putting aside the past, do you remember what you heard as the old one in charge spoke?"

Jewel tilted her head as she thought on it. "I should have payed attention when they said his name, but they weren't making it easy for me to care. All I picked up was something about them saying that they were going to study me for something. If that guy doesn't know I'm gone by now he'll have a real annoying morning tomorrow. I wonder who's going to get whacked."

"Hopefully that creepy guy who kept looking at ya like a dirty pedo," Lithium said.

"That's important but he also mentioned the Pokemon League," Lacrosse brought up.

"Ne? You want me to go there?" Jewel asked. Lacrosse nodded.

"Yes, which means that you need to leave Raven. She may say she's reformed but we shouldn't take a chance with her." Jewel nearly lost her smile but quickly accepted the two-to-one vote and nodded in agreement. Lithium took it with offense and crossed her arms.

"Damn, you listen to her but not me." Jewel snickered in response.

"I can arrange things nicely. How do you want her to be dumped off?" Jewel asked.

"We are not 'dumping her off'. There are many ways to do this and the only one that could offer anything in her favor, for the chance that she may be an ally, has brought itself close to us. You feel the spiritual energy not too far away right?" Lacrosse asked.

Jewel raised her head as she concentrated. She focused on the energy outside of her, the energy that was produced by the spirits of every living thing with very few exceptions.

It was harder to sense spiritual energy from the outside world while she was in here. One by one the different signatures came to her. She ignored all the Partial beings until she came to the Wholes. They were all trying to hide themselves, and were doing a good job at it, but with her sharp senses it was no use against her. She wasted no time in gauging out everything she could get from their energies such as their species, gender, age, strength, and distance from herself. One of them stood out in strength significantly from the others in her analysis.

"What's your plan with them?" Jewel asked.

"Meet with them and accompany them back to their town." Lacrosse directed. "I'll tell you more as you proceed."

"Town? Where did you get that from?" Lithium demanded.

"Read their minds," Lacrosse said.

"Oh." Having completely forgotten she could do that Lithium wasn't too pleased with having to be reminded.

Jewel clapped. "Cool, when are you going to teach me that."

"When you become stronger," Lacrosse told her. "Now go back to Raven and guide her to the Wholes."

Jewel nodded and at her command she was pulled out of her inner world and placed back into her body. Just like in her inner world she was in the body of a Cyndaquil. She was sat against a fallen tree with an Eevee close by flicking her tail impatiently.

As Jewel raised her head the Eevee walked up to her crossing on top of the snow with ease being too light to break its crisp surface.

"Finally, you're back. What do your spirits have to say?" Raven asked.

"They're interested in some Wholes nearby. Say's we should check them out," Jewel informed her as she got up. Seeing some snow caught in her fur she ignited her flame and melted it off. Some of her flames got on the fallen tree she had her back to and began to burn away at the wood.

Thankfully for any Pokemon that would have to suffer the resulting forest fire Raven caught the tiny blaze and slapped some snow on it with her tail.

"Be careful Jewel, we can't start fires out here."

At the sound of a twig snapping both of them jumped out of the way. Where they stood a Flamethrower scorched only to stop as soon as it started leaving a rather large fire burning. Raven landed on the ground and sent a glare at the owner of the attack. A curse ran through her mind as she analyzed his energy. He was a Whole, which could mean anything from good to horrible. She didn't want to take chances but she'll still have to endure talking to him if she wanted to actually learn if there was anything to take advantage of.

Jewel landed and looked at the Charmander in front of them. "Healthy flame, highly developed claws, and serrated teeth. This guy is just a genetic success," she commented.

"Thank you," the Charmander said coyly as he walked up to them. Any snow in front of him melted from the heat that his body radiated.

Raven allowed herself to attain some ease. This guy wasn't strong enough to cause them any harm without serious risk. All three of them knew that.

Jewel snickered. "You're welcome."

"I noticed you two out here and thought that I should say hi. You two just seem so unusual for some reason," the Charmander explained. Raven tensed back up in response to his words. "My name's Blaze."

"Jewel and Raven," Jewel said gesturing to herself then Raven as she spoke.

"Of course. Now what are you two doing here?" Blaze asked. "You're definitely not from around here."

Raven worked to hold off the uneasiness she felt around the Charmander to speak to him. "We're traveling through the area."

"Not just that. We're heading for a few Wholes traveling in a group around here." Jewel revealed. Raven silently cursed at the girls impulsiveness. "You know anything about them?"

"Yeah, I saw them a while ago and thought that I could take my chance at killing them before I realized that they weren't the usual wild Pokemon," Blaze said casually. " I can take you over to where I saw them if you want."

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Raven inquired, not wanting to spend much time around Blaze.

"It sounds like you want me gone," Blaze noted. Raven forced her face to reveal no emotion before Blaze grinned. "Just kidding. Anyway. it's pretty dry around here. This should be fun. I heard one of them say that he hates fire types."

Jewel smirked. "That should bring us some entertainment value."

Raven sighed as she looked at the chances that she'll have to follow these two into trouble which was very close to 100 percent. Jewel was bad on her own but she didn't like being around this Charmander, plus he seemed pretty violent from what he said earlier.

"Come on Raven," Jewel said as Blaze began to walk off to lead them. To be honest they didn't even need him as a guide since they could just sense where these Wholes were, but that didn't seem to register to any of them.

"Wait, the fire!" Raven brought attention to. The fire that Blaze had started was rapidly burning through the fallen tree and getting larger by the second.

"Take care of it!" Blaze yelled back at her not bothering to turn around or even stop walking away.

Raven glared at his retreating form. It was official. She hated him.

...

Siri looked around the lake with a small frown. "Where's Travis?"

"He's around here. We just have to wait for him to come to us," Bolt answered.

Feevo furiously pressed buttons on his phone screen trying to get connected to Travis only to be told every time when he called that his phone was busy. The cold was beginning to get to him. "That damn Tropius. I can't spend all my time out here."

"Well neither could he. He probably went to find a warmer place to stay," Star reasoned.

It was somewhat reasonable but Feevo didn't seem to care as he tried to work with his phone.

...

The crowd of three managed to track Feevo's gang rather easily after Blaze had brought them to where he saw the team. They left their tracks in the snow.

"Shut up, they're right up ahead," Raven said to Blaze and Jewel who had been talking during their whole walk. Blaze didn't take kindly to that.

"Don't tell me to shut up bitch!" Blaze snarled.

"What did you call me!" Raven yelled.

"Calm down girl. You're a canine. He's just calling it how it is," Jewel reminded her.

"...Yeeaaah," Blaze said slowly.

"I don't think he took that into any consideration while talking," Raven argued.

"You got any proof?" Blaze asked.

"...No."

"Then shut the fuck up bitch!" He really didn't need to add that last word, even for emphasis, but he was feeling daring today and wanted to see how good a punch Raven could throw.

To his disappointment Raven complied and fell silent, not wanting to continue. She did at least tell herself to hit him hard later on which would make him happy. Jewel and Blaze followed Raven into silence when they entered the brush surrounding the lake and its current visitors.

"Well, here we are and they're just fucking standing there. The green one's twitching like a retard," Blaze said in a low voice.

"So how do we approach them?" Raven whispered.

"Like this." And with that Blaze kicked her out of the bush. Having enough time to realize what was happening she bit his tail and pulled him out with her. Jewel just watched them and laughed.

Bolt watched them appear. He knew they were coming over a minute ago but felt no need to address it before they arrive. "We've got company."

Siri frowned. "They're not here for us, are they?"

"Fucking bitch! That hurt," Blaze yelled, rubbing the bitten part of his tail.

"Grow a set of balls," Raven hissed.

"You both need a little of something." Jewel snickered as she came out of the bush. She looked at the the group that they had gotten the attention of. Eye contact was made with Feevo, then she blew a puff of smoke in his direction.

Obviously there was no damage done but Feevo was still instantly ticked off. "What's that? Some sort of challenge?"

Blaze scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself. Like you don't suck enough for her to want to challenge you."

"And who the hell are you?" Feevo demanded.

"If you don't shut up I'll be the guy kicking your ass," Blaze threatened as he began to form a feral grin.

Feevo was prepared to walk right up to the Charmander and punch that grin off his face with a Drain Punch but he was stop by a tug on his arm from Star.

"What?" he half-yelled.

"Don't you remember the protocol for if we find a Whole?"

"This guy's a dick! No one would want him in town."

"We're still supposed to at least ask him," Bolt said.

Feevo sighed. "Alright." He looked Blaze straight in the eyes. "Would you and your filthy fire type a-"

"Fuck you bitch!"

Feevo turned back to his group and shrugged. "Well, I tried."

"Feevo, that was horrible," Siri scolded him.

"Hey, he was twice as mean as I was! You can't put all the blame on me," Feevo tried to defend himself.

"You didn't even bother with the two girls," Star pointed out.

"You guys are so boring," Jewel complained loudly. "It's like somebody sucked any fun out of your bodies. Hell, I don't even remember why we came here!"

Raven sent a half-hearted glared her way.

"Then leave," Feevo hastily offered.

Jewel instead grinned at him. "Maybe, but I'd rather take you up on your challenge." She then blew out a large fireball at his group. Feevo jumped over it and it exploded on the ground behind him, in the middle of all of them, and immediately had them scattered.

"Run!" Siri screamed. She herself didn't run but instead retreated into her shell. Star jumped into the lake and Bolt went down into a hole he dug.

"Cowards!" Feevo yelled.

"Jewel, what the hell!" Raven shouted. Blaze threw his head back and laughed.

"Come on Feevo, give me a good hit," Jewel dared before bolting at him. At the same time Raven ran after Jewel, only to get yanked back by her tail by Blaze, beginning a struggle between the two of them.

Siri peeked out of her shell to see Feevo yell before Jewel kicked him in his face and rammed a heated fist into his torso. Despite her he still had a mind to keep the waist pack he was wearing and its contents from getting hurt and managed to deflect any attack she sent that would hit it.

Blaze twisted and turned to avoid Ravens fangs while refusing to let go of her tail. He reaffirmed his grip on her tail and pulled back his fist to knock her out with a Rock Smash. Seeing this Raven moved her head out of the way and sank her fangs deeply into his arm while it was in front of her.

Blaze hissed and moved to whack her with his tail, making sure to enlarge its flame tip. Raven clenched her teeth at the new burn on her side, drawing some blood and sending acute pain to Blaze. Before it could get out of her reach Raven stomped on his tail with her hind leg. She let go of his arm which he quickly wrenched away from her face. Growling, he spat a large fireball at her just as she shot a Shadow ball at him.

The two attacks met and exploded between them with enough force to push Jewel and Feevo a few feet back.

Ignoring it Jewel landed on her feet and continued to chase after Feevo who had taken to dodging with Detect and Agility. He would fight back but he couldn't risk injuring his package. Unfortunately for him Jewel was a girl of low patience, at this moment at least. She accelerated into a Quick Attack and ensured her strike using her Foresight. She tackled his back and pushed him to the ground. Before he fell he tore the waist pack off and held it above his head the whole time preventing it from touching the ground and snow.

Jewel stood on top of Feevo and grinned. She turned her attention up at the sound of flapping wings.

An adolescent Tropius appeared from over the trees. Oddly, in comparison to normal specimens of his species he was a paler green and possessed a long tail. As he landed he took in the scene. Then he noticed Feevo on the ground with Jewel standing over him.

"Ha! You got your ass kicked by a little girl!" He taunted at once.

"Where were you?" Star demanded from the lake.

"A girl that passed by here had a cute Meganium with her," he said simply.

"You just left us here to hook up with some chick!" Feevo shouted with outrage as he pushed himself off the ground.

"I honestly thought that you would take longer with that than you did," Travis admitted, "And I went off to see if she was Whole or not since it gets sort of hard to tell when Partials spend enough time around humans."

"It shouldn't have taken you so long to figure that out," Star said as she waded out of the water.

"She was put in her Poke Ball," he responded. "I followed her trainer for a bit then acted as a wild pokemon and battled her. I defeated three of her fighters before the Meganium came out. When I saw she wasn't a Whole I threw an Air Cutter at her before leaving."

Bolt came out of his hole. He had heard the whole thing, identified the holes, and made his conclusion. He had nothing to voice on the matter.

"Wow, you're such a gentleman," Jewel remarked sarcastically.

Travis smirked. "I try. So, are you guys here for us? I'm supposed to make an effort to bring your Charmander friend with us but I've never been told of what to do with a Guardian."

"A guardian of what?" Siri asked as she came out of her shell. She was unfamiliar with the subject he had brought up.

"Yeah. She attacked me and jeopardized this mission. How can she be a guardian of anything?" Feevo asked pointing at Jewel with spite. In response the Cyndaquil blew him a raspberry.

"Guardians shouldn't be so willing to come up to Pokemon like us," Bolt murmured.

"It's not public knowledge. How do you know about it?" Travis demanded of Bolt.

"I have some advantages over others," he said simply.

Travis decided not to push it.

Raven thought of Travis's question. "Where are you all from?" she asked.

"That's classified," Feevo said automatically. For that he received a smack upside the head from Star.

"I thought you grew out of that."

"You can't just hit your leader like that!"

"We're from Viensane Town," Travis answered. "It's a town of a different world that's inhabited solely by Pokemon."

That wasn't what Raven expected but it piqued her interest. A planet devoid of humans would mean that there were no Guardians and since she never received any orders unlike some other Guardians there was nothing binding her to this planet. There was also the added benefit of having a secure place to go since, you probably don't know, she and Jewel were being hunted down right now. Another planet is one of the last places they would look for them. Plus, she never really liked this planet. Knowing what the Eevee was thinking Jewel smiled to herself.

"Sounds like a nice place to rest up before we find bigger fights, ne?" Jewel said.

Blaze shrugged. "It sounds alright."

"I... guess it's worth checking out," Raven said.

"Okay, that's all I need to know," Travis proclaimed. "Are we all ready to go home?"

"We've been ready," Feevo muttered.

"You guys don't look like you could all fit on a Tropius," Blaze noted.

Jewel nodded. "Yeah, and that boy is half the size of an adult."

Travis scoffed. "Like I would trust these guys on my back. Please!"

"So you're a psychic," Raven guessed.

Travis nodded. "I was the only one who would take this job."

"No, you just took the job and no one wanted to fight your high rank over it," Feevo said.

"Same thing," Travis shrugged (hypothetically, since he doesn't really have shoulders).

"Are we going back now?" Star asked with impatience.

"You should realize how hesitant I am to bring these three back with us," Travis said. "I don't know how anyone would react."

"You still have to do a report though," She pointed out. "They could react even worse if you come back without them."

"Well we don't have to be so honest in our reports."

Siri tsked. "That could get you punished."

"Well it could get _you_ punished but if when you get a rank as high as mine you learn that you can get away with a lot of crap."

"Sounds fun," Jewel chirped.

"Why are we still here!" Blaze yelled.

"I was asking that too," Star muttered.

"It's freaking cold!" Feevo exclaimed.

After that more complaints from all sides of him came in. Jewel snickered.

Travis sighed. "Fine." And with that all of their bodies glowed white and they disappeared from the area.

* * *

**Yes, I realize that many unfamiliar terms were put in this chapter. I'll take care of that in the next one, but the information won't usually come from the mouths of any characters since I see no reason for them to be talking about it in detail as they all know all of this. Instead it will be explained in the omake 'Pokepedia' which is really just an excuse for me to introduce some characters who are minors in the story right now. This section will also explain why a Tropius has psychic powers. I wouldn't just had those off for no reason.  
**

**Anyway, favorite and follow if you want but the reviews are what can really make this story any better.**

_-3888 wordcount_


	3. A Viensane Town Reception

**I feel like I'm going a little fast with this. Am I?**

**Chapter 3.**

* * *

Raven nearly toppled over as the sudden teleportation disoriented her senses. They must have traveled quite the distance for it to have such an effect on her. It could also have something to do with the fact that she barely had any opportunity to teleport anywhere in the past few years, but she could also feel that there was something odd about that teleportation.

Jewel was exposed to the same effects, possibly even stronger since this was the first time she's ever teleported. She looked as if nothing happened to her.

"Damn," Blaze groaned. He shook his head to try to resist the migraine that was coming onto him.

Jewel took a look at where they had appeared. They were inside a building that held a sort of quaint post office setting and they weren't the only ones around. A few other Pokemon were around going about with their own business, none of them paid the group a glance.

"Welcome to the Smeargle Post Office," Travis said when he noticed her looking around. He raised a hoof in the direction in one Smeargle out of multiple that worked here. "These Smeargle work with Delibird to process the mail and packages of the townsfolk. We usually get our jobs from here and come back to send the requested deliveries to the client and receive our payment later on for any completed mission. Pokemon from other towns usually stop here first to look up the jobs posted on the bulletin board planted outside."

"Jobs?" Raven asked as her dizziness faded.

Travis nodded. "Yeah, Pokemon around here that aren't as physical as others but have money from working in other professions hire teams like Feevo's to do the work for them. It pays well if you know how to choose between jobs available."

"What job did these hacks just come back from?" Blaze asked.

"None of your business," Feevo said snappily.

"Must have been pretty lame than."

Feevo nearly fumed while Travis continued. "The jobs you can actually take are limited by the rank you've got. Teams like Feevo's who've just graduated from the academy have to run errands until they get a normal rank and their adventure team badges. Then they start to take on real jobs."

Blaze snorted. "Ha! Knew it was lame."

"We were actually assigned to download a beta version copy of the next Shallow Road game for a fan boy who couldn't wait for it to be released," Bolt revealed.

"Beta versions of anything are awful. The bugs and glitches are everywhere you look and nothing's complete," Jewel said.

"He could be using it for anything. He was really vague in his letter," Siri said.

"As long as he's not causing trouble with it it really shouldn't concern us," Star said. She went up to Feevo and with a little protest from him opened his bag and pulled a USB flash drive from it. "Let's just hand this and the letter in so they can be packed and sent to him on time."

"Right, you go do that." Travis agreed. "I'll bring these three over to the guild to get them checked out."

The team departed from the four and went over to a counter where a Smeargle stood, ready to serve them.

"Wait, just what are we getting checked out for?" Raven asked.

"You aren't getting checked for anything. I just told him that so he wouldn't be curious about you, as you did come here on his mission. I'm honestly not sure what to do with you two," Travis confessed. "Pokemon we recruit are usually sent over to be registered into the Guild by Solar but you two are special cases. The Charmander... Oh, wait. What are your names?"

"Jewel, Raven, and Blaze," Jewel said pointing at whomever's name was called.

Travis nodded, "Right. I'm Travis, the Treecko is Feevo, the Piplup is Star, the Squirtle is Siri, and the Pichu is Bolt."

"Anyway, like I said I'm not sure what to do with you two. You pass off as normal Pokemon on a surface level but there might be consequences to bringing you here," Travis said.

"Then let's not say anything about it for now," Raven said. "If you mind I'd like to learn more about this place before showing myself as a Guardian, if that is necessary to reveal to anyone. It'll be much preferable for me if we could just pass off as normal Wholes."

"That's perfectly fine but if I'm able to tell the difference from your energy others who know about Guardian will be able to tell the difference too," Travis pointed out.

Jewel waved a paw. "We've got ways of hiding that."

"Okay," Travis accepted. "That at least makes things simple since I can just register you, under my own name of course. You may have come along on Feevo's mission but he can't recruit Pokemon on his team yet. Plus, he doesn't seem to like any of you."

"What? I haven't even talked to him," Raven said.

"Yeah, but your friends blew smoke in his face and you're tied to them by association."

"That's not fair," Raven protested.

Blaze sneered. "What makes you think I'd want to be registered into your team."

Travis shrugged. "You don't have to be but if you want to avoid 6 months in the academy you stay with me or find another team to go to."

"Is it even necessary to become registered into a team? These Rescue Teams don't really have anything to do with us," Raven said.

"Given the nature of your two friends I think that it is," Travis answered. "They look like they pick fights constantly and wander off without warning. This would be a great way to channel their energy into something constructive. There's no shortage of outlaws to fight and arrest. In fact, there's an overflow of bad Pokemon turning up." He finished his statement with a tone that implied that the fact bothered him, at least somewhat.

Blaze crossed his arms. "If I can't leave them cripples I'm not taking those jobs."

"The only fight I care about is my own, and that's only when I like it," Jewel said, grinning madly as always.

What?

Ignoring them Raven saw his point. She couldn't keep Jewel still by herself and this could keep Blaze busy and away from her. Also she had no prominent experience in anything other than fighting so this was the best way to earn money right now. She blinked in surprise as she realized that she was thinking of any possible plans of a future here. She honestly wasn't even sure that she would stay here yet. Yes, it was a safe place as far as she could tell right way now but she still had many doubts over if it could stay like that. There are those Guardians after her and Jewel. She couldn't feel safe in staying in one place like this and possibly endangering all of its residence. She'd have to think on this more.

Raven continued to ask questions of Travis while Blaze stood by and took in whatever information he provided. While the Charmander was much more interested in whatever battles would await him here he liked to be well informed instead of running around blindly. Jewel payed them all no mind as she took the time to speak to her spirits.

'_What do you want me to do now? It doesn't feel like I'm on Earth right now,'_ Jewel said mentally to her two spirits.

'_That's because you aren't on Earth. I'm pretty that someone mention that before you were teleported,' _Lithium hissed in her head.

Jewel mentally shrugged. _'Ne? I wasn't paying attention. Any info?'_

'_You're on another planet connected to Earth by a spacial rift created from Palkia's power. Travis transported you here simply by rapidly teleporting you into the rift and then into this Post Office,'_ Lacrosse informed Jewel.

Jewel smiled._ 'Ne? That's great! Another world out there to conquer on my way to the top of the pecking order. What other spacial rifts are there here?'_

'_There are many but only few that offer the service of getting back to Earth. Of the few of those that have been unlocked the closest one is in a dungeon to the southeast by 742 miles. You have to travel to that one,' _Lacrosse informed her.

'_Dungeon? Those are fun! What's this one like?'_ Jewel asked.

'_That would require me to tell you what Mystery Dungeons are, if you have the patience for that.'_

'_I don't!'_ Jewel chirped.

'_Then you just have to ditch the strags, get to to the dungeon and back to the other world then kill the idiots you met last time there,' _Lithium declared.

'_No, Jewel must not come close to the wicked Guardians again until she is strong enough to fully use her powers,'_ Lacrosse countered.

'_Why the hell are you so cautious?' _Lacrosse snarled.

Lithium sighed. _'There is nothing shameful about caution Lithium. Also, your chance to leave is now, Jewel.'_

"Jewel, come on."

Jewel turned her head to Raven's voice. She was waiting by the open door along with Blaze and Travis. It appears that they've decided to move on.

And so did Jewel.

"Oh, shiny!"

Under the guise of extreme distraction Jewel bolted past the three Pokemon and out the door before they even had a clue of what was going on.

Raven blinked. "Wh- What?"

Travis looked out the door as soon as he realized that Jewel had run off. "Damn it! She's gone!"

...

Meanwhile, Jewel was running at top speed away from the Post Office as she listened to Lacrosse's directions on what to do next. Top speed meant that she had to run on all fours, which wasn't a position that she was used to. She almost ran into a Mawile while making a turn.

The season was another reminder that she was on another planet. Back on Earth it was the middle of Winter while it was Summer on this planet. The heat that the star this planet orbited around was radiating warmth and Jewel could truthfully say that this was the first time she had felt this. On Earth it was Winter and in the years before now she'd never really seen much of the Sun. For a fire type it was comforting, but she couldn't stay here.

'_If you want to get to the dungeon you can choose to either fly or take a train.'_

'_Ne? I've never been on a train. I'll do that,' _Jewel decided.

'_You need money to get on the damn train you know,'_ Lithium pointed out.

'_There are two young Pokemon who want to board the train. They can't unless they are accompanied by someone at least seven years old, which Jewel conveniently is, and they are looking for someone who will help and won't put them at risk of being found out leaving town by their parents,' _Lacrosse replied. _'Jewel can meet them and they will pay for her fair if she can get them on.'_

'_Why not just sneak onto the train?'_ Jewel asked.

'_There is a magical barrier that will keep out anyone who is not wearing an admission tag,' _was Lacrosse's simple reply.

'_Then I'll just steal an admission tag.'_

'_The admission tags have a spell on them that keep them attached to the wearer until they reach their destination.'_

Jewel nodded, accepting that.

'_Turn left at the Sudowoodo?'_

'_Beat up the Sudowoodo! I hate those things.'_

Jewel was about to follow Lithium's demand until she received her confirmation from Lacrosse. Though, not wanting to let the Sudowoodo off easily she spat a large fireball at him before making her turn. The shriek from behind her told her that she had hit her mark.

She jumped over a bush and onto a path which she followed for a few dozen yards. A quick double check showed her that she had successfully camouflaged her spiritual signature. If anyone looked for her thew would first search for the signature of a regular Sinner but she was able to tweak it to appear as if she were a normal Cyndaquil. Still, she had to move fast since they would still be looking for a Cyndaquil.

'_Where are they?'_

'_They're inside the Train Station. It's a blue building that you'll see at the edge of the park.'_

Jewel nodded as the gates of said park came into her sights. As soon as she reached them she jumped to the side, just in time to dodge a Water Gun aimed at her. She may have been in a hurry but no one would catch her off guard, ever.

Jewel looked up at a Pelipper perched atop the gates. He was the source of the attack but he didn't seem hostile. The Water Gun wasn't even strong in the least as the was no real pressure put into it.

"Sorry girl, but I can't let you go running into the park with that flame on your back. No one wants a fire starting around here," the Pelipper told her.

Jewel slowly nodded and allowed her flame to recede. She seriously considered throwing some fire at his face in spite as Lithium wanted but a word from Lacrosse told her that that might interfere with what she was already doing. She ran into the park without giving the Pelipper another glance.

The bird wasn't important anyway. Right now Jewel only wanted to get on a train for what would be her first time, and with the talk of magical barriers it hopefully wouldn't disappoint her.

...

Travis wasn't too happy with the current events.

Jewel had just disappeared into the bushes chasing after something or just running off like a ninny. He was curious about her before but now he was sure that she was either high or had ADHD. He almost lost Blaze and Raven too when they tried to run after her but he was quick to restrain them with a Psychic (a move that Tropius aren't normally able to learn but this will be explained later. Expect a lot of Pokemon to do stuff like this) nearly earning him a fireball to the face if he had not put up a Protect. The two were not happy in the least but he didn't really care right now.

"What the hell! Put me down!" Blaze demanded. He tail fire flared up furiously.

Travis shook his head. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Raven asked with a scowl aimed at him.

"You two won't help anyone by getting lost after her," Travis said simply. "Plus, I have a friend who can easily track her down if she doesn't come back."

Raven was about to protest that she could track Jewel herself until she realized that oddly she couldn't. Jewel must have altered her spiritual signature, but that should not be able to stop her from identifying a Guardian from a town of normal Wholes. She couldn't locate a signature even remotely similar to what Jewel had when they both met, but she had to wonder of Jewel had even shown her her true signature in the first place if she could change it so dramatically.

"I can't sense her," Raven murmured to herself.

Seeing that Raven would not run off Travis released his grip on her, but he held onto Blaze who continued to struggle and snarl.

"I'll bring you two over to my house. I'll get one of my teammates to stay with you while me and another teammate go to look for Jewel. If she's not found when we return you can decide what you want to do after that," Travis said.

Raven nodded reluctantly.

...

Jewel reached a set of steps that paved a small hill in front of the Train Station. She ran down, tripped, then tumbled the rest of the way down hitting her head a couple of times. As she was in a public area she received some concerned looks from other Pokemon when she hit the floor at the bottom. She wasn't on the floor for long as she immediately jumped to her feet and dashed towards the station showing no sign of injury.

Lithium snickered. _'What was that?'_

'_Jewel, don't run down the stairs. You don't want to trip and fall do you?'_ Lacrosse asked.

'_Fear of pain is for the weak. I'll learn how to run down the stairs without tripping,' _Jewel replied.

'_Falling down the stairs is for the weak.' _Lithium sneered.

Jewel came up to the revolving doors. She watched them spin for a while as Pokemon came in and out before going through herself.

The operating system for this station seemed to be simple. Pokemon paid for and received their tickets at booths and had to show them to a ticket taker in order to board the train. At the moment though, no trains were present.

Jewel's attention was brought to a number of booths that sold food.

'_They sell burgers over there. what do those taste like?'_ Jewel asked.

'_How the hell do you expect us to know what that grilled piece of fat tastes like? Don't waste time with food when you don't need it,' _Lithium barked.

'_If you want to you'll have time to eat while on the train. Right now go and talk to the young Buizel standing by one of the booths,'_ Lacrosse told her.

'_Ne, I see him.'_ Jewel spotted said Buizel nibbling on a pretzel in his paws and looking around nervously. He almost looked like he was waiting for someone.

So, with a smile (not like she ever drops her smile though) she walked up to the Buizel and snatched the pretzel out of his paws effectively getting his attention and making a first impression, a bad one but not one of the worst she could have done.

"Hey!" the Buizel exclaimed.

"This is mine for a second," Jewel said. "And while I'm standing here I want to know why you look lost, ne?"

"I'm not," the Buizel said as he grabbed for his pretzel. Jewel kept it out of his reach, which was impressive considering that he was taller than her (by only a bit, but still).

"You had that look on your face, like something was wrong," Jewel said. "If you're not lost then there must be a problem you need help with." She patted her chest. "Luckily for you I'm the girl for the job."

The Buizel frowned. "You're a bit strange."

"True, but I'm also bored so I'm helping you today," Jewel proclaimed, "and I won't take 'no', or any variation of that, for an answer."

The Buizel looked at her with a confused expression. "Uh."

"Tails."

Jewel looked at the Rattata who was coming over. He looked to be a little older than the Buizel and dragged around a bag that looked two sizes too big for someone his size.

The Rattata looked back at her as he approached the two. "Who is this?" he asked.

"Ne, I'm Jewel," Jewel introduced herself, "and I just cleared it with Tails here that I would be your help for the day."

"Really?" The Rattata looked at the Buizel for confirmation.

The Buizel, Tails, quickly took his pretzel from Jewel's paws before giving his thought to it. Jewel was odd and had arrived as an unwelcomed annoyance, but she offered her help which is something they wanted right now. His mother had always told him to stay away from strange Pokemon but she also said to not be hasty to turn down help when he needed it. He nodded in response.

'_Ne, I'm in. Easy,' _Jewel thought to herself and a little to her spirits. Neither of them responded though.

"Oh, well thank you," the Rattata told her. "We really appreciate the help."

"It's all my pleasure," Jewel said.

"My name's Radar, by the way. Or, at least, that's what everyone calls me," Radar said. "If Tails hasn't told you-"

"Nah, your friend hasn't told me anything, though he tried to play off not wanting help at first," Jewel said interrupting him. "Now that I'm certain that there is a task to be assisted with though I will gladly give in my hours of service."

Radar gave Tails a look.

"She's... a bit odd," he said sheepishly.

"And proud of it!" Jewel claimed.

"It's alright, the oddest ones are always the most productive," Radar remarked. "It shouldn't affect her ability to help us."

"And what help am I to give to you?" Jewel asked, already knowing much of what she had to do.

"It's easy and really should not take long," Radar said as he took a card out of a bag that hung around his neck. "Just take this card and use it to get us tickets at the ticket booth. Since you're old enough they won't reject you like they would to us. Once we get our tickets you can go on your way," Radar said.

Jewel shook her head. "Iie."

Radar frowned. "What?"

"I'm here to help, not give children tickets and have them take a train to possible dangers, ne? To assist I'll have to follow you even if you're summoning a portal to hell," Jewel said.

"You want to come with us?"

"Ne, even if you're off to just deliver a letter you could always use a bodyguard."

"You're honestly willing to spend the day with us to help in something that has nothing to do with you?" Tails asked.

Jewel nodded her head.

"Well, I guess we could have you with us if you really want that," Radar considered, "but you don't have to go out of your way like this."

"I already said that I'm doing this for you. Don't try to talk me out of it," Jewel said.

"That's great then," Tails said. "The train is going to arrive in the next 10 minutes so we should get our tickets right now.'

"Of course," Jewel said as she took the card from Radar.

...

"Will you stop struggling?" Raven asked Blaze in a bored tone as she stood with Travis outside of a large tree that was carved into and converted into a home. Blaze was still being held psychically by Travis and still fighting against the mental grip. So far Raven was impressed that Travis could keep a hold on the Charmander for so long.

"If you don't let go of me now I will burn your house down!" Blaze threatened.

Travis snorted. "You wouldn't be the first to try."

Blaze screamed out his frustration, earning some looks from those who were passing by, and continued to try breaking free.

Raven sighed and put a paw over her eyes. Things were such a mess.

"You called?" She removed the paw and looked at the source of the new voice.

A Croconaw who looked to be as old as Travis stood in front of them with his arms crossed. He had a smirk on his face that was mostly directed at Blaze as his fellow lizard struggled.

Beside him stood tall a Lucario around the same age. Her sharp eyes gazed upon the two newcomers lingering on Raven just long enough to leave her uncomfortable before she turned to Travis.

"Who are these children?"

"Glad you could come," Travis said. " These are the friends of a Cyndaquil that needs to be tracked down."

"You dragged us away from-" The Croconaw, Reeno, stopped himself. "Uh, I mean, happy to help!"

"No you won't, cause only me and Carla are heading out," Travis said. "I need you to watch this Charmander so he won't wreck my home, run away and get lost too."

Reeno groaned in disappointment but quickly shrugged it off and flexed his claws. "Just a quick spar should exhaust him. Then we'll take a trip to the hospital for some happy drugs."

"Just try it and see what happens," Blaze dared him.

"I'm telling you to watch him, not beat him up then load him with narcotics and gas," Travis tried to clarify for his teammate. Reeno frowned at this.

"Well, can I at least wear him out in a fight?"

Travis sighed. "Sure."

"Great! Then this will be easy, cause I'm not too good at playing watchmon when the kids are running around."

"I know," Travis said as he mentally recalled on an earlier incident. "Maybe I should have called Lauren instead."

"You should have," Carla, the Lucario, agreed, "but if this Cyndaquil is moving then we also need to be. Reeno will have to settle for now."

Travis nodded. "You're right. Hop on my back," he commanded. She did so and landed gracefully with one jump, avoiding landing in any way that could injure his wings, as tough as they may be.

Then Travis lifted himself off the ground, not using his wings as much as you might expect something of his size would need to but instead relying on what seemed to be a natural ability to float. He ascended about 10 feet into the air before turning back to Reeno.

"Here, hold him tight."

Blaze was then psychically thrown at the Croconaw who grabbed onto his arm and tail, not flinching when the Charmander bit his arm with a maw full of flames.

"Whatever bro."

Raven looked at Reeno with mixed feelings. He could easily take care of the Charmander who had caused her so much distress yet she didn't exactly feel comfortable around him either. She sighed. '_If only Jewel hadn't run off... No, if only I hadn't been born a Guardian.'_

"We'll be back if we find her. I'll call you if something unusual comes up," Travis told Reeno before he flew in the direction of where he had last seen Jewel, the Post Office.

Was Raven confident that they could find her? Not really, but if they were tracking Jewel by aura then they had a better chance of finding her then Raven, who could only attempt to find Jewel by a spiritual signature that she camouflaged. Honestly, Raven wasn't sure on how effective they would be as she hadn't read up on aura abilities that much. She could only hope that this would end well as she followed Reeno into Travis's home.

...

Omake

Pokepedia: Spiritual Energy

...

I floated to my stage, in front of my audience, my class. All their faces were just beautiful in my eyes, just as the spiritual energy I felt radiating from them all was. If I concentrated just a bit I could see the color that each energy signature possessed. It was like a rainbow!

I thought of how much more fun this might be if Shaymin or any other of the my cousins had not been 'busy'. They were just lazy and they know it! Celebi was the worst of them all. She has all the time in the omniverse and she made up an excuse. Suicune and Moltres offered to help me in my lecture but they were too extravagant in appearance, which they were pretty much happy with when I told them outright. I didn't want to be outshined by those bigger and more mature than I. My cousins were stronger and older but not bigger so I wouldn't have that problem with them. I know I could just transform into something better than Suicune and Moltres but that was unacceptable.

Just what else out there was as cute as a blue Mew with a silk scarf around their neck that changed colors. Honestly I'm thinking about adding a cowboy hat to my look. Maybe a few rings for my tail too. Celebi could even have then enchanted if I came about it the right way.

If you wonder, I am hopscot (Yeah, I just did that.), and yes, that is with a lowercase 'H'. Why? Because I'm a legendary which means that my word overrules grammar, so there!

I went through my prepared lecture in my head as I stood, or floated, behind a podium and faced my students. The subject was on spiritual energy. It was so important in our world that it just had to come first. Even subjects such as the battle system, Wholes and Partials, or even Guardians weren't as important. Even legendary Pokemon would be getting lectures focused on them because you do not know anything about them in this world. Don't even get me started on the things with the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon World. Though you don't honestly have to learn this stuff since the definitions don't play a serious part of the story. This is just to make sure you understand. So for for all you nerds or just kind folk that give me the time of day listen up, cause class is in session.

As an omake Pokepedia was here to stay. The thought makes me happy. This will give me some screen time even when I'm not in the main story, and my cousins too since I only teach Biology which is not all you'd need to know. But still, I get screen time! The best part is that you readers have to read my lines if you want to completely know what the heck is happening. Haha! Bow before the mighty Mew! You are now at the mercy of hopscot!

I saw my tail in the corner of my vision and the desire to playfully chase it came over me. Sadly I couldn't do that, at least, not in front of my students. I need to be mature.

Anyway, better get on with the lesson.

My eyes glowed pink as I built a psychic bubble around myself which I expanded to engulf the entire classroom. The room and everything in it other than the students and I disappeared and I made solid, yet soft, floating bubbles of psychic energy for them to sit on. Above us all was the beauty of a random part of space while below us was a random planet I had been to once.

Now, why do we have to be in the classroom in the first place if I'm just going to block it all out? Because that's the way I teach silly! There are other classes they have to attend so they have to be in school anyway.

"Now class," I began with the adorably cute voice that only I could pull off. At least that's what I thought before I saw a beautiful Oshawott with red eyes just like those of a certain trainer on Earth that I'm fond of. She could pull it off almost as flawlessly as I. "Pay attention. The subject for today is Spiritual Energy."

With a thought I manipulated the surrounding area to make most of the spiritual energy flowing in and out of the bubble visible to the class. Wisps of energy flowing through the air and in or out of the bodies of the students and myself were seen. They were all in vibrant colors that were pretty to look at. The students didn't look impressed, those ungrateful...

Onto the lesson!

I raised a paw and attracted a snippet of the flowing energy onto my paw. The ones produced by children always relax me when I touch them. "Spiritual energy, in the simplest of explanations, is energy produced by spirits. Along with soul energy, which it is a byproduct of, it is a power that permeates through the universe and in every living thing. For all Pokemon, and some lucky humans, it is what gives abilities and categorizes them," I said to my class. They don't take notes but that doesn't really matter since most of them have amazing memory. Almost never has anyone failed a test under my watchful eye unlike Victini who has children failing left and right. Though it isn't her fault as she was the gym teacher and every time they had finals and had to fight _her_ it would be insane to think that they could win. She could snap them in half by yawning. Sadly so many fail because they never figure out that the goal was not to overpower her.

"Spiritual energy is only produced by spirits while they're connected to a soul," I stated. The clouded below us swirled and as they parted an image as shown of a Buneary. By all appearances this Buneary was normal, except for the fact that it was transparent, phasing through anything in its path, unseen by the living and dead. This was a spirit, which is distinct from a ghost by the fact that it doesn't have a soul. That doesn't mean that it can't think. It is in fact the brain of the soul/spirit duo while the soul is the brawn. "This spirit was just stripped away from its soul by a Chandelure. Several other spirits that were preyed upon by the same Chandelure are now also left homeless and they are all in search of a now soul to connect to. It's very important for them since spiritual energy is what keeps a spirit alive. Right now they're feeding off the surplus energy that other spirits are making, but for them to make their own energy they need the energy of a soul to convert. Unfortunately due to them all being burned by Chandelure's flame they'll be unable to inhabit another soul and they'll likely die."

"When a spirit actually has a soul it has attached to along with a body it controls the real fun of spirit energy comes out." The clouds covered the image under us and when they parted again the scene of Zekrom, Reshiram, and Kyurem in one of their training sessions came up. The students were impressed by this at least.

"Awesome!" one of my students, a black dyed Cyndaquil, remarked at the sight of Reshiram's famous ferocity shining through. Her Snivy friend right next to her nodded in appreciation of the view.

"One of the features of spiritual energy are the two varieties that it comes in. This is the Tao Trio's jurisdiction. Reshiram is in control of Yang while Zekrom is in charge of Yin. Kyurem represents the boundary, and split, between the two powerful forces but he does have a fair bit of control over both sides. The fact that these guys are split up is the reason that yin and yang don't mix, but they're at their strongest when you have the same amount of both corresponding forces. Having these two types balanced up is not so important but having only one makes a major difference in your abilities, powers, and strengths. Balance and harmony is just that important. You can't have everything just spill onto one side."

"Your past lives are also important." I waved goodbye to the training footage (I could swear that Zekrom waved back. I'm not crazy!) and a new scene was shown, or rather two scenes were shown. A thin line of the clouds remained in the picture to divide the past from the present. The one of the past was a bit hazy but it it could be seen a Skarmory creating waves of flames as naturally as any fire-type would. It even looked like the flames were stronger and created with more ease than most fire-types could ever manage. She must have gotten her wings on the flame plate of her planet but it seemed like she was using it for good as she fought with her allies against the generic big bad. In the other scene, this one much clearer, a young Snorunt ran away from the fire that was lighting up on anything close to her. The poor girl doesn't understand her powers yet.

"The Skarmory and Snorunt here are the same spirit. In its life as a Skarmory this spirit acquired the elemental power of fire from one of the element plates and that ability didn't leave the spirit when its body died. When this spirits turn came up again to be reborn out of the many other spirits that were attached to its soul it passed on any abilities that it got in its past lives to its new life. Everything that happens to a spirit while it is in control of a living body is written down on its spiritual signature. Nothing on this signature can be altered or deleted, though they can be copied down more than once or transferred to the signatures of other spirits. You can call that the hard drive of the spirit, which makes the spirit a laptop, which makes the soul an outlet. They're all connected!"

* * *

**Sorry for the abrupt ending on Pokepedia but that's how I'll be ending most/some of them. So, what do you think? Favorite and follow if you want to be I'd get the most out of reviews. I need criticism to improve on things I may not notice.**

_-6361 wordcount_


	4. All Aboard The Thief's Lure

**I really feel that my pace may be too fast.**

**Chapter 4.**

* * *

Jewel gazed out the window as the scenery of the outside world moved in and out of her line of sight. Her tag, payed for by the card that Radar had given her, was laced around her neck and her two young companions were with her in their cabin. The space given to them almost could have been confused for a hotel suite if not for the passing scenery seen from the window. They had their attention to the flat screen television that was on the wall, Tails and Radar were on a couch while Jewel was on a chair by a window. It was broadcasting live two teams of Pokemon fighting against each other in a tournament. They both seemed to be evenly matched so it was anyone's guess on which team would win.

"That all looks fun," Jewel commented when she looked at the screen to see an Absol slashing at a Leavanny with its sickle. "Do you think that you both will fight in these sort of tournaments when you're older."

Tails nodded. "Yeah. Battling is always fun for us and I really think that we can win a tournament if we train really hard."

"You think that you can survive an attack like that?" Radar asked, referring to the fight as a Zebstrika smashed into a Druddigon with a powerful Wild Charge. The dragon was pushed back a few feet before grabbing the electric type and belching a Dragon Pulse into its face.

"Yeah," Tail replied without hesitation. "Well, right now I can't but when I build up my defense to a high enough level I can shrug off electric attacks just like my mommy does."

Radar seemed to want to say something before he stopped himself, then he smiled. "Enthusiasm is a good start."

Jewel nodded. "Ne, but that's not the only thing you need. You gotta have a good reason to fight, ne?"

Tails looked at her. "Well, I don't have one of those. At least, my mom said that I don't when I told her why I want to be in a Rescue Team."

"Ne? Why do you want to be in a Rescue Team?" Jewel asked him. She rose from the chair, jumped down, and walked over to the couch.

"I already told you. I think fighting is fun!" Tails said.

"That'd be a good enough reason for me." Jewel took a seat next to Tails.

"But the adults don't like it," Radar said. "It doesn't really worry them but they want a better answer than that."

"Why would it worry them?" Tails asked cluelessly.

"It can make some of them feel like fighting is the only thing you care about when you're in a team, and you would care less about your client or justice," Radar said.

Tails frowned. "But I do like to fight a lot. If it'll help the client what's the problem?"

"Yes, you're helping the client, but why are you helping them? It should be the same reason as why you're in a Rescue Team."

Tails tilted his head. "To fight?"

Jewel clapped her paws. "Bravo! Best answer ever."

Tails smiled. "Really?"

"No." Radar deadpanned.

"No? But that's the reason that I want to be in a rescue Team. What's wrong with it?"

"For me there's nothing. Well, unless fighting does you in while you're traveling out here as such young Pokemon without your parents. I actually like you two."

"We won't get killed out there," Radar stated, almost hesitantly.

"Then what are you doing out here?" Jewel asked. "You never told me." Despite Lacrosse telling her what would usually go through the minds of others she didn't tell her what these two children were doing. In fact, she and Lithium had been quiet for awhile.

"We're trying to get back my water compass," Tails blurted out.

"I don't know what that is," she said flatly.

"It's a broken compass filled with water that his mother gave him for some reason. It always points in the wrong direction but Tails likes to keep it close," Radar explained.

"So someone stole it," Jewel guessed.

"For some silly reason they took it out of everything else in his house, then they left a note telling him where to go if he wanted it back," Radar said.

"The note also said to not bring or tell any adults or else they'll break it," Tails added.

"They're obviously leading you into a trap. The fight might be good but for a broken compass you shouldn't run into it, ne?"

"But it's important to me," Tails protested. "If I have to fight for it I can."

Radar sighed. "I know that I'm going out here with you but Jewel has a point. Your compass may not be worth walking into a trap or risking our lives for."

Tails sneered. "Maybe not for you."

Jewel grinned. "Ne? Don't make that face at him. It takes a good friend to disagree with you on something you care about and still go along with it for you."

"Well, I can't let him go out there by himself," Radar responded.

Tails' face softened. "I guess that's true, but I don't like other pokemon saying that my water compass isn't worth anything."

Jewel waved a paw. "They're just common bullies. Not even third rank. The best way to shut them up is to challenge them to a battle and beat the patience into them."

Tails smiled. "I like that."

"What happened to just ignoring them or telling an adult?" Radar demanded.

"That's boring and takes way too much time to get results," Jewel said. "Some of the more dense kids won't take a hint if you don't acknowledge them and telling an adult... Ne? That's perfect. Get your parents to beat them up! That's not boring."

"Any of my mean classmates leave me alone when I'm with my mommy and I don't think she'll agree to that," Tails said.

"Of course she won't!" Radar exclaimed. "That's a horrible way to deal with bullies!"

"But it's not boring," Jewel said.

"It's not right!"

Jewel crossed her arms. "A lot of people do things that ain't right to make good. Having bullies and other bad mon beaten up by your parents when you're too small to do it yourself may seem wrong to you but I see it as one solution to the problem."

"I'm not too small to beat up bad mon myself," Tails protested.

"I don't know how good a punch you can throw but I doubt it," Jewel said. "Unless you've got something special under your belt you're not going to beat a more experienced enemy. Just cause you're the good guy it doesn't mean that the bad guy doesn't train as hard as you do. The fights going to be fun but you're not gonna beat em, ne?"

"But I have willpower, which is what wins all tough fights," Tails said.

Jewel nodded. "Ne? So do they. Without experience on your side the only thing that can tip the balance in your favor are godly genes, special abilities, super genius intellect along with the machines and strategies that can come with it, perfect teamwork, playing dirty and powerups. You two haven't even developed your defenses yet which means you might not last the first hit."

Radar blinked, surprised at how much she made sense and how heavily she stated the odds were against them. Tails was less swayed.

"All of that won't matter since it won't stop me from getting back my water compass," he stubbornly stated.

Jewel smirked. "Ne? Your will is genuine. That might help. At least it'll give us something here."

"If I have to fight to get back my compass it'll give us the win," Tails said as he made his paws into fists. "I already like to battle and I'm not afraid of the pain that comes with it no matter how bad it can get. Sure I'll need more than willpower sometimes but when it's the only thing that I have I know that it'll come through for me. That's always let my mommy win in impossible battles and if I'm her son it'll work for me too."

"Her team might have something to do with that," Jewel muttered to herself, "but she sounds like a great girl from what you've been saying about her. Maybe even a good fight. Have you ever seen her in battle?"

Radar nodded. "She spars a lot with a Raichu and Sceptile between the missions that they go on together. Even with a type advantage she gives back as much as she takes from them."

"I've seen her attacks leave craters in the ground and blow the roofs off houses, "Tails boasted.

Jewel was left unimpressed. When she sees or hears about power she is very hard to impress unless you're able to casually level a mountain and blow up a city then proceed to wipe out an army of super powered cyborgs with a blindfold on and both both hands tied behind your back. In other words, it would take a legendary to impress her.

"Ne? Can't do that," she lied. " Though maybe I'll have a battle with her if the chance comes up in the future."

"She's always training to get stronger. By your logic you'll never catch up to her strength," Radar pointed out.

Jewel nodded. "You're right. I wouldn't if I didn't qualify for some of the conditions to tip the odds in my favor."

"...Playing dirty?"

Jewel shook her head. "Iie... well, maybe. It is fun to play around with others and make them mad by playing a cheat card in the middle of battle, but that's not for battles that I want to enjoy. I'm not sadistic, I think. I'll use my natural born, or was that supernatural, abilities."

"What kind of abilities are those?" Tails asked.

"I heard someone say it wasn't public knowledge." Jewel shrugged.

A shout from the TV drew their attention to the screen and the tournament as the underdog of one team, a Spheal, finished off her Aqua Ring- Ice Ball combination move and defeated the Hariyama of the other team. This took out that other teams last battler and won her own the round. Hundreds of cheers came from the stadium which she took in with modesty. The three in the cabin continued to watch as the announcer introduced the next two teams that would be battling for their spot in the semi-finals.

...

Raven looked at Reeno with amazement after having just seen him swiftly take down Blaze in one attack for the twelfth time in a row. The Charmander persistently kept getting up to come back at the Croconaw, but it was obvious that he was no match for him.

The three of them were on a battlefield behind Travis' home. Reeno had taken them out when he decided that Blaze needed to burn off some energy after he almost destroyed a computer in the house. He basically dragged Blaze outside, by the tail, threw his bag at Raven, then began his attempt to exhaust Blaze in battle, or at least leave him too sore to move. Either one was fine with anyone. The only problem he faced was that the Charmander kept getting up no matter what blow he received, getting angrier each time. His tail flame was also getting larger which had Reeno suspect that he was using Rage.

Blaze snarled as he slashed at Reeno, only for his claws to bounce off his scales, again. Reeno quickly inhaled and spat a Water Gun in Blazes face, blasting him away a few meters and reducing the size of his flame. He stayed on his feet though and growled as he shook of the sting of pressurized water hitting his hide. With the pain that came from the water-type attack many fire-types would have blacked out. What kept Blaze from fainting was the fact that Reeno was holding back immensely and that fact pissed Blaze off. He wouldn't let anyone walk away from a fight with him without having taken it seriously.

Blaze belched out his Dragon Rage, only for Reeno to slash it apart with his Metal Claw. He then slashed at the air a few times in a complicated pattern before dashing at Blaze.

Blaze moved to the left, successfully avoiding Reeno's right claw but that didn't save him from getting a Mega Punch to the gut from his left fist. Blaze doubled over in pain before Reeno threw him back a few feet and he fell on his back.

Raven sighed as she saw the Charmander release a groan before dragging himself back to his feet and charging at Reeno with a yell once again. He's proven himself to be far more stubborn than she thought he was. It borders on suicidal even. Any sane Pokemon would have given up such a one sided battle ages ago yet he just refused to accept defeat. She could grudgingly admit that she admired the trait of his, as faulty as it was.

Her attention was taken away from the 'battle' when she felt vibrations from Reeno's bag along buzz along with the tune of the Wicked Witch of the East. She opened his bag and felt around in it with her paw until she came upon his MyPhone. She looked at the screen and saw that the caller was that Lucario that Travis left with.

...

Carla patiently waited for Reeno to answer his phone as she held hers to her ear and sat on Travis' back.

After the two of the departed from Travis' home trusting that it would not be on fire by the end of the day Travis flew to the Post Office to have Carla see if Jewel had left any traces of her aura behind. Arriving there she needed some description of the girl from what Travis may have known of her (though she held the suspicion that he was holding back) to determine what quality of aura she might possess. The one that was singled out lead a trail in the same direction Travis had said the Cyndaquil ran.

The trail was easy to follow and had lead down a path and into the local park which confused the two but they decided that they would find out what she was doing when they had found her. They followed the trail into the Train Station, which added more confusion, then they came upon their problem.

Finally her call was answered and Reeno's voice came out of the small machine, along with some grunting in the background._ "That was quick. Did you find that Cyndaquil yet."_

"Can you put it on speaker?" Travis requested. Carla complied.

"Reeno, can you hear me?" Travis asked out loud.

"_Yeah. What's the problem out there?"_

"The problem is that after tracking her down we found her inside of a train," he said.

Some shouting was heard from Reeno's side before they heard the Croconaw's voice again. _"So this girl is on a train." _

"Yes, that is what I just said," Travis said as he looked down at the rail vehicle that he was flew over. He knows that he was the one to say that she looked like she wandered off frequently but he would not had thought it could be to such a degree. "Carla found her aura trail, which went into the park Train Station and she says that she can make her out in one of the train cabins."

"_Then just break in and grab her."_

"That would cause destruction to the train. We are a Rescue Team, not vandals," Carla hissed. "Besides, the magic shield around the train won't allow us to get close to it."

"_She's on one of those new trains? How did she even get on?" _

"I can sense two other Pokemon in the cabin with her. Perhaps she convinced them to let her tag along," Carla suggested.

"_Okay. So what are you going to do?"_

"We're going to go back to the train station and see how many stops this train will make. Then we'll visit all the stops to see which one she'll hop off on," Travis answered. "This could take all day."

"_What! I don't want to watch this guy for the whole day. [Yeah, I'm talking about you!] Why don't you get your train card, get on the train at the next stop, and get her out?"_

"I fly and teleport everywhere. I don't have a train card."

"I lent mine to Lauren for her mission with Alistair and Sophia. All of theirs had reached their limit," Carla said.

"_Damnit! Mine reached its limit too."_

"How did your card reach its limit? You barely go on the train," Travis demanded.

"_I'm like Carla. I let someone else borrow it."_

"Who?"

"_Lauren."_

"What is she doing on the train to fill up two cards and still need another one?" Travis asked.

"_It's Lorenzo. He keeps following her on missions so she takes ones that are far away to make it harder for him."_

"Well that's unnecessary. He should know that she's trained enough to handle any mission she takes," Travis said. "I mean, my father would never do such a thing."

"_Your father pushed you off a cliff to teach you how to fly."_

"Exactly, and her father should trust her just as much to get out of a tough spot," Travis said.

"This isn't important," Carla spoke up. "Let's go back to the Train Station before we waste more time."

"_We're not really in any big of a - Oh crap!"_ Something on Reeno's side seemed to have surprised him and caused a disconnection between them.

"Okay, that's our cue to get back," Travis said. He flapped his wings to gain altitude and turned back to the Train Station. You'd think that with what happened over the phone he'd head back to his home to see what had happened with Reeno, but he knew that the Croconaw would be alright.

...

"What the hell are you doing at my house!?" Feevo angrily demanded as he threw a large rock at Blaze who was being held back an arms length away by Reeno. The Charmander saw this and jumped out of the way to let Reeno get hit. He seemed to be too focused on his call to notice the rock coming.

"We're not really in any big of a - Oh crap!" he yelled as the rock hit his head. He dropped his phone, which was then crashed as the rock fell on top of it.

Reeno stared at the rock in horror as the younger Pokemon went on with their confrontation.

"What the hell was that for you dick?" Blaze snarled as he charged at the Treecko.

Feevo narrowed his eyes and drew back a fist to form a Drain Punch to counter the Rock Smash that Blaze was coming at him with.

They were only two feet away when Bolt jumped in between them and discharged a Thunder Wave, paralyzing them both. With the momentum he had made Blaze was unable to stop and fell over Bolt to crash into Feevo sending the two into a heap as they collapsed on each other.

Behind them a Mawile who stood next to Star, Siri, and a Bulbasaur shook her head. The team had met up with the two when the exited the Post Office. The Mawile, Natalie, had complained about nearly being run over by some Pokemon who seemed to be in a rush. She didn't see the species. For some reason this got Feevo to invite her to take her mind off of it and join his team for training. Well actually, it may have not been for 'some reason'. It may have been because Feevo had a crush on Natalie, and one that got him teased relentlessly by his friends (except for Bolt who really couldn't give a damn). Despite his more flustered approach to her then he use with others he interacts with she has remained oblivious to his affection and, much to his frustration, is as casual towards him as she is to anyone else. He still tries to impress her though.

Star sighed. "They're both idiots." The other girls nodded in agreement.

The Bulbasaur, Apple, watched as Bolt tried to pull the two paralyzed Pokemon off of each other. "Who's that Charmander? I've never seen him before."

"He came back with us in the mission we just came back from," Siri answered. "Now that I think I don't remember us getting his name."

Natalie frowned. "You brought him back and you don't even know his name."

"Well technically, Travis was the one to ask him to come back with us," Star said. She looked around the area. " He also brought back two other Pokemon and if the Charmander is here they should be too. So should Travis."

"I'm right here," Raven said as she sat down right next to Star. This startled the Piplup, as she had not noticed her approach them.

"Hello," Siri greeted. "Is the Cyndaquil around here too?"

Raven sighed. "No, she ran off then hopped on a train to the Gods know where. Travis left a while ago to look for her."

Star frowned. "You're serious?"

Raven nodded.

"Why would she do that?" Apple asked.

"I have no idea," Raven lied. She actually did have an idea of why Jewel had run away in a place she knew next to nothing about. She knew from her own spirit, Tetris, how erratic a Guardian's behavior could become while they followed their suggestions.

"My phooone!" Reeno wailed in anguish as the initial shock of having it destroyed washed away only to be replaced by sadness and agony.

Bolt put Blaze to his feet with difficulty. The paralysis wasn't intended to last long and was already fading away which allowed Blaze to stand unsteadily by himself when Blaze retracted his support.

"You help him before your leader?" Feevo groaned as he tried to raise himself up.

Bolt shrugged.

"Just stay on the fucking ground if you don't want me to burn you down," Blaze warned. "What the fuck are you doing throwing rocks, you dick?"

Feevo glared at him. "You're the dick! What are you doing at my house?"

Blaze sneered. "That Tropius took me here and left me with that damn Croconaw," he pointed a claw at Reeno, " who said he won't let me leave until I can knock him down."

Feevo finally got back to his feet and looked Blaze up and down which got him a growl from the Charmander. He smirked. "So is that where you got all those bruises from?"

Bolt was already prepared to use another Thunder Wave against the two in case they tried to start a fight. He watched blaze closely and was surprised when the Charmander completely changed his disposition the next moment.

Blaze smiled. "Yeah they actually are. You know, even though he was holding back I think I picked up a few tricks from him."

Feevo blinked. "What?"

Blaze nodded. "You heard me. I'm pretty sure you did. Whatever, it doesn't matter."

He then disengaged from Feevo and walked over to where the females were talking. Feevo stared at him in confusion the whole time.

Feevo scratched his head. "I thought that would piss him off."

"And if it had?" Bolt inquired.

Feevo threw a fist into the air. "I would have punched his muzzle in just like he deserved. I still want to do that actually."

Bolt let out a sigh. "Feevo, don't start fights for petty reasons."

"Wanting to show up a dirty fire type ain't petty." Feevo sniffed.

Bolt gave him a look that showed he was unconvinced before he went over to the females as well. Feevo followed him.

"So your name is Blaze? I'll remember that," Natalie said after Blaze had introduced himself.

Blaze nodded. "Alright. I'm not sure about staying in this town, or world, though."

"Why not?" Siri asked.

"Yeah. Why not?" Feevo echoed as he came over, though in a more delighted tone.

"Simple enough. It's because this is way off from what I was built for," Blaze said. "I don't want to spend any of my time being spoiled in a house nor do I do well on a team."

"Then why did you agree to come here?" Raven asked.

"That's a different matter," Blaze muttered. "Anyway, I've still not decided but I don't think that I'm staying in town."

Apple frowned. "Don't you think it's a bit too early to decide on that yet? You haven't seen much of the town yet."

"I've been here for an hour. Plenty of time to see what I need to," Blaze reasoned unreasonably.

"You should still spend some more time exploring the place," Star said. "I can think of a few places where you'd fit in."

"You actually want him to stay here?" Feevo asked in disbelief.

Star nodded. "Sure, I have nothing against him." Feevo crossed his arms and huffed.

"I'll think about it," Blaze decided.

"Just don't spend too much time on that. If you grow to too many people here they might not let you leave," Siri warned.

"I won't let that stop me," Blaze said.

Natalie smiled. "Admirable. Why don't you train with us today."

"Why would you want him to train with us?" Feevo demanded in a quiet outrage. Raven also felt some of his sentiment on the idea but kept it to herself for the moment.

"We were going to train here anyway and I think that it would be better if we had someone else to spar with," Natalie said. She then looked down. "But i guess it was rude of me to invite him to something we are doing at your home. He can join us right Feevo?" She looked back up at him and he froze.

"Uh..."

"Adding Blaze would make seven of us. If we try to work in pairs that could be a problem," Bolt brought up.

Before anyone else could say anything Raven spoke up. "I'll join in," she volunteered.

Star gave her a surprised look. "Really? Even when your friend is missing you're still going to spend time sparring with us."

"Jewel's safety doesn't hold much concern for me, though she is important," Raven confessed. "Besides, this is a great way to pass the time until Travis comes back, with or without her."

Star made an expression of surprise at how little concern she placed over someone she thought was the Eevee's friend.

Blaze shrugged in response to Natalie's suggestion." I can pass some time throwing a few punches and fireballs at you guys. Are we going at this with friendly, neutral, or hostile force?"

"Neutral," Bolt answered. "Most of our defense can't stand against hostile force, even from each other, while friendly force won't garner enough experience.

"Makes sense," Blaze said.

"What doesn't make sense is your attitude change," Feevo muttered.

Blaze turned to the Treecko. "What was that?"

"I really want to fight you on the the battlefield," Feevo declared. "I'll pound you into the ground!"

Blaze grinned. "Sounds fun, but not challenging enough. How about I fight your whole team at once instead of just you."

"Whhyyy!?" Reeno cried as he was still in mourning over his phone.

Feevo glared. "What do you mean I'm not challenging enough?"

Apple looked between the two of them with unease. "You two, please don't get into a fight."

Blaze gave her a partially reassuring smile that could have gone much better without the display of his teeth. "Don't worry, I'm not the type of lizard to throw the first punch. Any problem we have with each other can be dealt with in battle, or a spar or whatever."

"How are you going to deal with any problems you have with him while you have to fight the rest of his team at the same time?" Raven asked.

Blaze gave her a sneering look, which she returned, before answering. "Easy, knock everyone else out then focus on him."

"That's nowhere near as easy as you think it is," Feevo said. "You'll get destroyed in a second."

Blaze gave him a toothy grin. "Well let's see if I will."

"Let's not," Siri said. "There's nothing we can prove in a 4-on-1 match."

"We can prove that we're not as weak as this guy thinks we are," Feevo said.

"But it's still an unfair match," Natalie said.

"Do you have a solution?" Star asked.

Natalie nodded."Of course, a 4-on-4 match."

Blaze shook his head. "No, I already told you that I don't like working on teams."

"And I can't work with Blaze," Raven added.

"Well I'm not switching out my teammates for either of you," Feevo said.

Natalie sighed. "Come on, don't be so difficult. You might be surprised. It could be fun."

None of them seemed moved in the slightest.

Bolt grunted in annoyance at the stubborn attitude they all displayed. "All of you are immature." he sighed.

The brought him negative attention from the three. Mainly Blaze and Feevo though as Raven just huffed.

"Hey, I'm not immature," Feevo denied.

"Josh, don't lie," Natalie said.

Feevo (or Josh?) sagged. "Okay."

Blaze raised an eyebrow. "Josh? I thought his name was Feevo."

"Yeah, his name's actually Joshua," Star said. "Feevo is just a nickname that a Leafeon had given him. He also gave Bolt his nickname."

"And his real name is?"

"Francis." Bolt supplied.

"Why are we telling him this? It's classified," Feevo complained. He yelled when Star smacked him upside the head.

"No it's not, and don't start that again."

"Mutiny!"

Apple sweatdropped. "Uh, we've gotten off track. What about the match up?"

"I think we should still have one four on four." Natalie said.

Blaze crossed his arms. "Well I still don't want to work on any teams."

Star facepalmed. "Oh my lord. Fine! Then just don't fight."

"That will solve the problem," Raven said. Feevo nodded in agreement.

"But that would make it three on four," Siri pointed out.

"Yeah, and I want to fight," Blaze said.

"Then work in your team."

"No!"

"All of you be quiet. It doesn't matter anyway. I'm taking him to the Train Station."

They all looked at Reeno who was approaching them after having recovered from the loss of his MyPhone (or just remembering that all his data was saved onto the internet and he had a backup phone).

"I just got a call from Travis. He wants me to bring Blaze and Raven over to him at the Train Station."

"But we didn't even battle," Feevo protested.

"Then you should has done that right away instead of talking," Reeno said.

"Why are you complaining?" Star asked Feevo. "You don't even want Blaze here."

"But I want to fight him," Feevo said.

"You were all too happy when Star suggested he not be in the fight a few moments ago," Siri said.

"I wasn't thinking straight."

"Excuses," Star waved away.

"We can have a fight if we have free time while looking for Jewel," Blaze suggested reluctantly.

"We already know where she is, and there are no strags allowed," Reeno said.

"Oh, good. Let's leave them here than. This won't take long," Blaze said.

"And what if we want to go?" Feevo asked.

"We don't want to go," Star said flatly. The rest of Feevo's friends nodded in agreement.

"No strags allowed!" Reeno repeated.

"We ain't strags," Feevo said.

"Do you even know what that means?" Bolt asked.

"No..."

"Well it ain't important. I'm going now," Reeno declared before grabbing Blaze's arm, much to the Charmander's immense protest, and dragging him off. Raven hopped away from the young group to follow them.

Feevo started after them. "Hey, we still gotta fight!"

He got in two feet before something caught his arm and pulled him back. He landed on his back and saw that his arm had disappeared into the jaw-like set of horns attached to Natalie's head.

"What!"

"Feevo, we've already agreed to not get involved. Don't make a scene," Bolt said as Natalie freed the Treecko's arm.

"But-" Feevo started only to be interrupted by Star who said, "There's nothing to argue about. Blaze is likely going to come back and until then we can do what we came here to do. Training. Why do you have a problem with that?"

Feevo looked between all of his friends with slight distress. They were all against him. this isn't something that should be happening to a leader.

And so Reeno continued on with the snarling Blaze, who seemed to have reverted to his previous behavior, and Raven, leaving the group behind them to go on with their day.

...

Pokepedia: Stats

...

Hello class, my name is Sohcahtoa the adorable blue Mew with the awesome color changing scarf and this is Pokepedia, your local guide to my world of Pokemon.

Yes, I know my name was hopscot (with a lowercase 'h') last time but I am one of many names. In fact, I'll pretty much answer to any name. Call me Snapdragon or Cinder and I'll take it.

Once again I took my spot in front of the class and I was still alone which makes me a little sad. I couldn't find a single legendary to help me with the class today. I know that I took this job with the understanding that I would be soloing it most days but I'd still like it for someone to be by my side through this. Even if they aren't the best at the subject. The best one possible for this topic was Deoxys and he was busy on a mission. That's that most common excuse I get when I want to hang out with someone and they aren't available. Us gods are kept so busy.

Now the class gave me their undivided attention as I once again created a false reality around us all. This time I think that a museum might be a good place to put them. I can even make it all about me, as a Mew-seum. Ha, it's perfect!

So of course when we arrived there someone had to make a comment.

"Why is it that whenever you don't know about something you just fill in the blanks with yourself?" an Emolga, whose name is Gamma, demanded as he stared at the masterpiece of a building with a queer look. He's just jealous.

I put my paws on my adorable hips. "I know a lot about museums."

"I doubt you've ever gone to one," another student, that black dyed Cyndaquil sneered. Her name is Lithium, and her twin, easily identified by the white dyed fur, shook her head with disapproval. Glad to see someone on my side.

"Well we aren't at one right now. This is a Mew-seum. The museum of your teaching." Saying that I extravagantly gestured to the Mew-seum. The pure white structure deserved much more than the unappreciative students. The gold paving on the floor and corners of the outside wall aren't much but the statues of me are just too much for the undeserving students. The giant winged statue that sat daintily on the rooftop casting its blessing on the building and all who entered in tandem with the two smaller statues at the sides of the entrance made of pure ruby and sapphire. I even took the liberty to construct a beautiful garden for my Mew-seum to stand proud in as it took its place as a center of learning. Each tree, foliage, and fruit they produced glowed with a holy light and a fountain with a me statue cutely spitting water into the pool it stood over was situated between us and the Mew-seum entrance.

"Your play on words is terrible," a Fennekin said.

I might have retorted but I'm much more mature than that. I'm the adult here. So I just ignored her and started the lesson.

"Class your lesson for today is stats, something you should be familiar with from your training in gym."

"Then why are you teaching this to us?" a Gligar demanded.

"Shut up!" a female Nidoran snapped. "You're just stretching this out longer than it needs to be."

"Thank you," I said to my savior in the dark. "Anyway stats, short for statistics, are the values of the six defining fields in regard to Pokemon. These six fields are Hit Points, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed. Join me into the Mew-seum where I'll talk on this subject more with you."

"Are there any more statues of you in there?" Lithium's Snivy friend, Akaidi, wearily asked.

"And portraits," I responded leading them all to the entrance. I flipped a coin into the fountain while passing it, for good luck.

The beautiful white doors that had my image carved onto their surface opened to reveal the glorious inside. Like I said there were portraits of me in there but since I'm not conceited there were a few statues and portraits of the other legendaries scattered here and there. They are all family to me and since they are a part of the life of this Mew they all deserve a spot in the Mew-seum. Yet the most prominent statues not of me were of the Creation Trio in the entrance hall with the Lake Trio next to their chosen partner. Mesprit sat on Palkia's held up arm, Azelf playfully hang from Dialga's tail, and Uxie floated by Giratina's head with hands held in a praying position. They are all family to me.

I turned back to my class. "The six fields I mentioned before are the most essential parts of battling, even if you prefer using magic spells instead of moves. Each stat can be raised by simply working on them through training, where the spirit adds onto its strength. Stat values and also moves you may learn are powered by something we can call statistic energy which is made through the hard process of the spirit converting soul energy into it. There are no ways for any stats to be permanently decreased while you're alive. As soon as the spirit gives up the control of the soul to another spirit occupying it all of the stat values that it built up are absorbed by the soul preventing the spirit from passing on that strength to it's next reincarnation but making the soul stronger in turn. Follow me into the Red Hall where I'll go on about the Hit Point stat, or the HP."

In the Red Hall there were statues and portraits of Pokemon species known to naturally excel while taking advantage of the HP stat. I sat on the head of a smaller statue of Giratina who's able to take more damage before going down than any other Pokemon. I know this from the few times that I transformed into the species and whenever I saw the original battle. My endurance never feels so high in any other form, nor my aggression which is why I don't transform into a Giratina much.

"Guy's, these HP tanks here can take more damage than any other Pokemon before you can get them to faint, if they faint at all," I patted patting on the head of the statue I sat on.

"HP is the stat of endurance which defines how many hit of something it takes to put you down. One point equals to a scratch on the body in any Pokemon and when those scratches add up you're going to be facing some serious pain. The thing that builds up HP is running out of it which makes this the most painful stat to build up. While you don't exactly get used to it you learn to grow a tolerance to the abuse you end up taking which means when you're knocked out after taking a certain amount of damage that same amount is less likely to knock you out next time. Got it?"

I think that they got it. I'm such a good teacher. I allowed the students to take a look around the hall before we moved on to the Orange Hall where now there were showings of the images of Pokemon with naturally high Attack stats.

I lightly dusted a spot of the Rampardos statues with the fluffy bit of my tail. Everything must look presentable in this Mew-seum.

Seeing that the statue shined with the help of my lustrous tail I spoke to my class. "Attack is the stat of physical strength. You can raise it by lifting weights or practicing your Attack moves. Practicing the moves is the option that's going to make them stronger. The more experience you have exerting yourself to push the power out of your muscles the more naturally that power is to come out. So this stat basically comes from muscle power and ties with Defense for having the least to do with spirit energy in its initial phase. Attack moves generally work to attack the physical body of a target and can by themselves kill if they are intended to."

The students wondered the hall once again after that and me polishing the Rampardos statue turned out to be for nothing as Gamma managed to knock it down and break it. Heartbroken at my hard work being treated in such a way I directed the class to the next hall.

The Yellow Hall showed off many armored and thick skinned Pokemon. I sat on the statue Cobalion's back. Unlike of the rest of these Pokemon he neither had armor nor thick skin to lessen damage dealt to him but rather a thick coat of fur that was made of a tough lightweight type of metal. I think that he has metallic bones though, but I never bothered to check on that.

"Defense is one of the two walls protecting the body from Attack. It is a calculation of how much damage you will take from any Attack as well as anything that would inflict physical damage. The more Defense that you have built up the less HP you're going to lose to any Attacks that hit you. The way you build up Defense is by being hit by Attack moves. Like a body forms a callous to protect an area that's been abuse you're going to get tougher in response to the beatings that your body takes."

While the students checked out the Yellow Hall I took the liberty of going back to the Orange Hall to fix the Rampardos statue. Yes this is just a false reality but it's one that I want to be perfect and no Emolga is going to ruin it. After fixing the Statue and putting a few more of me up I went back to my class and nothing was broken. They are such good children.

The Blue Hall showed us the minds of prominent Special Attackers. My favorite here was the Chandelure since I can roast marshmallows in it's burning fire. The spirit energy in there definitely gave it a unique taste.

"Special Attack pertains more to the spirit than Attack does. It gives the calculations of how much you can damage the spirit of your target and you can raise it by having a better understanding of Sp. Attack moves or practicing on them. Remember when I said that only Attacks can kill if intended to. That may have been misleading. Sp. Attacks can also kill indirectly from elemental types that might be in the attack or the force that the Sp. Attack is able to place on Physical items. In fact Sp. Attack moves often attack the body as well as the spirit. Which all means that you're as likely to be killed by a Sp. Attack as you are by a normal Attack, except in certain situations. The good news here is that your spirit can't die unless it's deprived of a soul so you won't die completely."

Four down, two to go. I gotta admit, this is getting tiresome. At least it's better than doing nothing. Once the children were done with their sight seeing I took them to the Green Hall.

This hall presented those much more sleek than the ones found in the Yellow Hall and just as durable. Just in a different category. That Shuckle is in both of these halls and I have to say that from my own experiences it wears you out when you fight those things. Even a triple Calm Mind enhances Hydro Cannon didn't do that much damage, but that was a long time ago.

"Special Defence is the psychic barrier of the two walls that protects the spirit. Just take everything I said on Defence, replace Defence with Sp. Defence and you've got the lesson."

"You're getting lazy," a Skitty said.

How can a fellow kitten betray me! The students may not have minded as they looked around but I still felt the sting. What was that? Am I getting lazy? I just have to make sure that the next field we go to is awesome, and what do you know? The next one is speed. That's the perfect subject for me to regain some of my pep.

The Pink Hall brought to us the fastest Pokemon, all nimble and none too bulky. The Jolteon's sharp thorns reminded my of being pricked by them at a younger age while training with my mentor. It makes me sort of sad thinking back to it. He was a great person.

Oh no! This was supposed to be where my pep comes back into the lesson. I can't be sad. There's no way that I'm going to give me a great explanation if I'm focusing on sad thinks. I have to focus on the positive, like the fact that my cloud castle is awesome. In fact, I just have an awesome life in general. Yes! I got it.

"The last stat is Speed which is that nice little stat that determines how quickly you can act, or react during battle. Acting Speed is how fast you can move, cover ground, charge up attacks or make your projectile Attacks fly through the air. Reaction Speed determines how fast you are able to perceive things around you. That's what makes it not impossible to dodge lightning fast strikes since to the person doing it it will almost seem like time has slowed down enough for you to act. At least that's how it is for me. The was that you can build up Speed to move faster is by training to move faster. Building up Speed for your Attacks without sacrificing their power is just the matter of being about to build up that power in shorter amounts of time."

How was that. An awesome explanation of the stats from an awesome me don't you think. You know it's awesome and so am I. Let me set up some games for the students here and I'll meet you next time.

* * *

**I couldn't help but think that Pokepedia didn't give out any information needed this time but I'm not planning on putting it after every chapter. On the chapters that require additional information to be understood I'll add Pokepedia but on ones that don't I may just end it there. Anyway this chapter was mostly dialogue but some progress was made here. Favorite and follow if you want but reviews can tell me what I'm lacking in. No pressure.  
**

_-8231 wordcount_


	5. An Early Departure

**I'm not sure why, but this chapter would not type easily. It's not even that large.**

**By the way, as I researched Pichu for a later fight scene I learned that they don't learn Dig, which I had Bolt use in the second chapter. Let's just pretend that they do since I've gotten Bolt too deep in it in a later plot to change that and I don't want to use an excuse as I did with Travis' psychic powers.**

**Chapter 5.**

* * *

"Good news everyone," Travis told his team along with Blaze and Raven as he looked away from the MyPhone which he held up with his psychic powers. They were settled on a bench outside of the Train Station while Travis lay on the ground by them.

"It doesn't sound like good news when you open it up like that," Reeno said.

Travis continued. "Our town was the last stop of the train that Jewel got on before it came to it's main stop."

"And that would be..." Raven inquired.

"A huge city called Aarenthide, it's known for-"

"Why the fuck are you giving us a lesson on a damn city?" Blaze snapped. "What even makes you think that she'll get off on that stop anyway?"

"It's the last stop of the train before it turns around. Of course she'll get off there," Travis said.

"I don't follow your logic," Raven said.

"The train's like a cruise ship," Travis started. "It stops at several stations, runs for a while then stops at it's main destination for a few days before turning back."

"Well, when you put it that way," Raven said.

"Just Teleport to the damn city and find out what's going on here," Blaze ordered.

Travis shook his head. "No. The train will take hours to get to Aarenthide. It may even take a whole day."

"We can still go now. I mean, it's a huge city. There are tons of fun stuff to do," Reeno proposed.

"I can see far more productive things we can do instead of running around in a city," Carla said.

"Aww, just go with it Carla. I mean, when was the last time we took a break from training or taking jobs for a day?" Reeno asked.

"I'd say that we only have breaks when we're in the hospital for injuries we get during our jobs or training sessions," Travis said.

Reeno nodded. "Yeah, that's too much. We deserve a little vacation time. With all the laps you have me running and bad guys we're fighting I'm probably the fittest Croconaw my age. It's not fair!"

Carla glared at him. "You being fit is a good thing."

"But it does prove his point," Raven mutters.

Blaze crossed his arms. "You're a lazy dick. Just get back to training."

"You get back to training!" Reeno shot back. "You're the salamander who couldn't even scratch my scales in a small spar."

Blaze glared at him. "What the hell is a salamander ya dumn twit?"

"It might be in the group of things called 'animals'. Weak creatures of mythology that humans came up with ages ago. The list is almost endless" Travis provided.

"Yes, apparently you're something called a sauropod," Raven commented.

"These things are weak? What the hell's the point of making them part of mythology then?" Blaze snorted.

"Well it does sort of help that they're 'myths'," Reeno said.

"I actually don't know about them being just myths. Didn't we see a rabbit on one of our missions?" Carla mentioned.

Travis nodded. "Yeah, in that weird seeing orb. I think we may still have that in storage actually."

Reeno waved a paw. "The planet we saw couldn't have been real. Sure there were humans, but there were no Pokemon."

"You do realize that you live on a planet with no humans right?" Raven asked.

Reeno looked at her with slight surprise as he realized she was right. "Oh yeah."

"So does that mean that humans are animals?" Blaze asked.

"What makes you ask that?" Carla asked him.

Blaze shrugged. "Group the weak with the weak. Plus, humans are nothing like Pokemon."

"That sounds reasonable, in a way," Travis said. "We know that humans don't actually originate from Earth. Scientists researching the planet have uncovered evidence suggesting that they just appeared there between 120 and 70 thousand years ago. Some of them think that they might have evolved on a separate planet with animals first then were brought over to Earth through a now inactive spacial rift."

"Enough to survive the Partials and create the large population they have on Earth right now?" Carla questioned skeptically.

Travis shrugged. "Every theory has their holes. It's either that or they built rockets that we've never found the remains of, got stranded on Earth somehow and lost all their tech."

"So the humans are aliens now?" Reeno said.

"Aren't the Pokemon here aliens?" Raven asked. "With your use of the spacial rifts to travel between here and Earth so often it seems unlikely to me that any life started up on this planet on its own. Plus I've only seen Earth species on this planet so far."

Travis nodded. "You're right. Pokemon started coming here over thousands of years ago, though when they first arrived the planet was uninhabitable. With some work put in we started living here permanently and even had some legendaries appear. Have we gotten off topic?"

"We always get off topic," Reeno said.

Raven nodded. "Yes. You started off wondering on whether or not you should go to the city Aarenthide now and wait for Jewel there while you do your exploring there."

"...And we ended up talking about the possible space travel of ancient humans and Pokemon?" Carla said with slight disbelief.

Blaze smirked. "Ha! You guys must be pretty damn ditsy to get so off trail."

"Hey, you were the one who started it," Reeno protested.

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did, with your question 'What the hell is a salamander?'"

Travis then chose that moment to butt in loudly with, "Well, we aren't doing anything productive anyways so why not we go off on this little vacation of Reeno's." He turned to Carla. "Or would you rather give him something to complain about."

She frowned. "No, but our job as a Rescue Team is important. We've saved others who could have died if we hadn't arrived on time. I don't want this 'vacation' to be at the cost of anyone else."

Travis nodded. "Yeah, I remember some of those missions. You've got a point. What's your reply Reeno?"

"We don't have any requests in our team inbox right now and if something comes up we'll get a message over our phones, drop what we're doing and have Travis teleport us to the scene."

Travis nodded in agreement. "Good point too. We don't have to go on a small vacation and just shrug off the rest of the world. That's not the values of Team Aerostorm."

"Hmm," Carla hummed. "I guess I can go through with this if it won't stop us from acting when we are called to."

Reeno did a fist pump. "Hell yeah. Week long break here we come."

Carla narrowed her eyes at him. "Week long? It should only last at most three days."

"Three days!? How do you expect me to check out everything in a city in only three days?" Reeno demanded.

Blaze groaned and leaned back into the bench. Travis, on the other hand, laughed.

"Do you know what you guys argue like?"

Thus a new argument was started, only for them to to get off topic then get back on topic to resolve their disagreements. Then someone brought up scheduling.

...

"This train is a lot bigger on the inside than it is on the outside," Radar said as he stepped into the rather large dining car. Many other passengers were seated and enjoying their ordered food. With his sharp sense of smell Radar could tell how delicious everything brought to them were.

"If you're impressed by this the really fancy trains will blow you away. They put work into those that you wouldn't believe," a Litwick beside him said.

The three had met the Litwick when she accidentally wandered into their cabin. Her name was Bonnie which Jewel found amusing enough to strike up a conversation with her. This ended with Bonnie staying in their cabin once they had all gotten used to each other.

"What's the best magic train that you've ever been in?" Tails asked.

Bonnie hummed in thought. "Without a doubt that would have to be the Luminous Express. That train is the only one that can take you to Hekans which is the magical capital of the world. Right now though it's out of service while it receives renovations, which without question will improve its glory tenfold."

The four found their table and took their seats. A couple of menu sheets appeared in front of them in a purple glow which startled Radar. The Rattata jumped nearly a foot into the air.

Bonnie laughed. "I know that Rattata are jumpy, but living in the battle focused town you say you're from should have given you some bravery."

Tails patted Radar's back. "He's just had a bad experience before. The last time something just appeared like that in front of him it tried to suck his eyes out."

"Oh." Bonnie nodded in understanding. "That must have been traumatic. Was that from when you were younger?"

"No, that happened last Tuesday," Radar said, having quickly calmed down.

"Oh."

"Jewel, you've been quiet for awhile," Tails mentioned while Bonnie and Radar took the menu sheets to see what to order.

Jewel nodded. "Yeah, I have." She said no more and took a look at a menu sheet. It quickly became evident to her that she had no idea what anything on the menu was. Even the pictures seemed foreign, especially that stringy thing with the sauce. Having given up on understanding the words the moment that she looked at them she decided to go with whatever had the most meat. She couldn't recall the last time she had eaten meat. Maybe she never had before as she had a lack of need for sustenance that made this too possible.

"You know, you've never told me what brings you three children to Aarenthide," Bonnie said.

"It's just a short stop on our way to, uh, Pokemon Square," Radar quickly lied before either of his travel companions could say anything.

"Why are you going there?" she asked.

Well, that really didn't answer the question. Now he'd have to lie to her again, but at least she wouldn't question it if she ever saw them leaving the city. However that might not even matter since she wasn't affiliated enough with them to put them at risk if she didn't turned out to be a responsible adult.

"We're the type of kids who can get up and go whenever and wherever we like," Jewel chimed in. "More specifically, I got bored and brought these two along to find adventure. It's a monthly trip."

"And you're parents are okay with this?"

Tails nodded. "Our parents are okay with letting us travel from home to fight criminals and help strangers. Of course they're fine with this."

Bonnie looked unconvinced and was about to say something, but Radar spoke before she could.

"So, is there a waiter to give our orders to?"

Bonnie shook her head (or body?). "Oh, no. You just put your paw on the word or picture of what you want to order. If the magic on the piece of the paper senses that you intended to order what you touched the paper will then be magically replaced by your food."

"How does that work for Pokemon that don't have hands?" Radar asked.

"They can make their order by focusing their eyes on an image or word with enough intent. The magic treats it the same way." Bonnie shrugged.

"Do we have to pay?" Tails asked. "I don't see any prices here."

"That's because this is cheap magic," Bonnie said. "The food may be delicious but it's made out of simple matter and uses next to no mana to conjure up. All of the food here is free."

"That's nice of them," Radar said. Then he realized something. "Wait, the food is made with magic? Does that affect us in any way?"

"No. Well, maybe. It will if the magic is contaminated but that's not likely to happen," Bonnie said to assure him.

Jewel laughed. Then she gathered up all the menu sheets on the table, snatching some away from those who holding them, and they disintegrated in her paws for no conceivable reason.

"Woah!" Tails yelped as he jumped back to avoid the sparks that flew in his direction, and fell off his chair.

"What was that?" Bonnie demanded while Radar just sat in his chair confused.

"This." Jewel raised her paw as it glowed purple, and with a flash of light four dishes and drinks appeared in front of them looking and smelling quite delicious.

Bonnie inspected the food. "This is-"

"Magic!" Jewel exclaimed. "And you're right. That didn't use up much mana at all."

"You can use magic!" Radar cried incredulously.

Jewel grinned. "I can now, thanks to my special talents."

"Is that why your menu disintegrated?" Bonnie asked.

"Is this that same supernatural ability that you mentioned earlier?" Tails also asked as he got back up to the table.

Jewel nodded, though her smile became strained. "Yes, and yes."

Bonnie frowned to herself. "So you copied the magic cast into the menu?"

Jewel didn't seem to listen as she filled her mouth with the food in front of her. She wasn't sure what it was, or what it was supposed to taste like like but she didn't hate it so she continued to chew and swallow it.

Bonnie sighed as Tails and Radar also tried what were on their plates. She really had not expected Jewel to do that. It was really going to put her off.

...

Feevo grunted as Natalie's jaws clamped over his tail with an Ice Fang.

After Reeno left with Raven and Blaze Star suggested that they still have a three on three battle with her joining Natalie and Apple. Over the next hour they engaged in match after match, trying to outdo the other team. The winning team was decided by which side was able to knock out all three on the other side. They were through with eight matches so far and this one would break the tie between them and decide the winning team.

Feevo began a spin to build up momentum and pound her into the ground but she let go of his tail and jumped back.

Both of them were quite tired by now from the many blows they had received from the other's teammates and each other. That along with their status ailments, Feevo's poisoning from Apple and Natalie'e paralysis from Bolt, put them on their last leg.

You might have expected this to be in Natalie's favor due to Feevo's little crush wouldn't you? Unfortunately for her he always went all out no matter who he battled. It was one of his few redeeming qualities that made up for being loud, obnoxious, and over-dramatic while still somehow being a good enough person that his friends have to suffer through his bad traits because they appreciate his good ones enough. Right now he was determined to win this battle.

Unfortunately for him, Natalie was too.

Natalie disappeared into a Faint Attack as she saw Feevo approach in a Quick Attack. When he lost sight of her Feevo backflipped into a stop and rose his awareness using Detect. This allowed his to sense the slightest change in perception and when he detected it he brought his tail up just in time to intercept Natalie's kick. After a brief power struggle between the two they both jumped back a five meters away from each other.

They had a brief state-off, which ended when Feevo winced from the poison running through his system. He was suffering for his status ailment while it was much less so for Natalie, whose paralysis was beginning to wear off. Still, she gave Feevo the proper time to recover before she went on to her next attack and charged at him.

Their friends watched as Feevo spat his Bullet Seed at Natalie and her attempting to dodge only to be struck by her paralysis and hit. Having been knocked out of the fight they stood on the side, watching and ready to heal the two when one of them became too injured to fight. Well, actually Bolt was the only one healing them while the rest would simply feed them berries to completely rid them of their ailments. It wasn't as good as the healing services they would receive at a Hospital but Bolt's Wish was sufficient enough to keep them all fighting through nine matches.

"They are really at an improvement from last week," Star observed.

Bolt nodded. "So are the rest of us, but I can still find dozens of openings that they're leaving for each other each minute."

Siri giggled. "That's probably cause you're used to looking for them when you watch your father spar."

"That's also why everyone aims at you first when we all spar together like this," Star said.

"It's also what lets me survive until the end in half of our matches so I see no great loss," Bolt said. He looked onto the battle and shook his head when he saw Feevo attempt to dodge Natalie's Vice Grip using Detect, only for her to nearly burst his eardrums using Astonish. She caught him in her jaws and the battle might have ended there if Feevo had not drained energy from her using Absorb, healing himself a bit and making her jaws loosen enough for him to slip out.

"It looks like Natalie will win in the next minute," Bolt concluded.

"What makes you say that?" Apple asked.

"She hurt his leg in the last Vice Grip and weakened his Detect with her Astonish. That takes away his speed and ability for a definite evade. Combined with his poisoning he won't last long."

"Really?" Apple said as she began to feel somewhat guilty for poisoning the Treecko.

"Oh, so that means that you win with 5 to 4," Siri said. "Congratulation!"

Star huffed. "Neither of them has gone down yet."

Just when she'd finished saying this Natalie punched Feevo's face. He flew back and landed on the ground several feet away from her. After several seconds passed with him not getting up it seemed he was out of the fight. Upon realizing this Natalie plopped down, quite worn out herself.

"One of them has now," Bolt muttered. He then concentrated to bring upon the effects of his Wish. Normally when Pokemon used the move Wish there was a delay before it went about with healing but Bolt had placed the move onto himself and the other five before they had begun to fight. From there he delayed the move himself until someone was unable to fight and needed it, allowing for an automatic healing.

Both Feevo and Natalie lightly glowed as a healing pulse filled their bodies, healing their wounds and ridding them of some of their weariness. Their friends, except for Bolt, ran over to them.

Star handed a Cheri berry to Natalie, which the Mawile gladly accepted.

She took a bite out of the berry. While she wasn't fond of its spicy flavor she felt it immediately go to work as her muscles became relaxed.

"Thanks," she said. Star nodded.

Meanwhile Feevo was munching on a Pecha berry given to him by Siri. While it was sweet and made him feel better (By clearing the painful yet non-lethal toxins from his body.) he still felt terrible that he had lost, especially to Natalie. How weak could that make him look to her?

He had even found himself not in the mood to speak to Siri when she tried to talk to him.

While everyone else was helping others recover, or were recovering themselves Bolt sat by himself thinking. Not on the spar though, since he had seen nothing new here. His thoughts revolved around something more... personal. The Pichu's face scrunched up and his ear twitched. He could hear something coming to them, or the house. He sighed as he heard the faint beating on wood that none of his friends seemed able to.

Meanwhile, at the front of the tree home a distraught Bellossom knocked on the door in a gentle, yet urgent beat. With no other Rescue Team in town she had come here when she heard that Travis had attracted attention while returning to his home. The sighting may have been over an hour ago but she hoped that he was still home.

"Hi, Mrs. Sawnroot."

The Bellossom, Sawnroot, looked over to where the voice had come from to see Feevo running over from around the house/tree.

"Joshua." She walked over to meet him. "It's nice to meet you. Is Travis or your Uncle or Aunt at home."

Feevo shook his head. "No. Why'd you ask?"

Sawnroot frowned instead of answering. "They're not here? Oh no. I'm in such a hurry. Bye Joshua."

With that she left the property, and Feevo who was quite confused.

"Who is it?" Siri asked as she opened the door from the inside and came out along with everyone else.

"Mrs. Sawnroot came here for something and left when no one she wanted was here," Feevo said. He huffed. "She could have asked me to help with whatever she needed."

"Well, maybe it wasn't a job for a little kid," Apple suggested.

"I ain't a little kid!" Feevo barked.

Apple shrank back from the outburst. Natalie put her hand on the Bulbasaur's bulb to comfort her and glared at Feevo causing him to shrink back as well.

Bolt sighed. "Well, you as well as all of us are at most seven years old and in Junior Rescue Teams. If Sawnroot needed someone there are far better candidates around town."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that we can't give her a hand," Feevo said. "So come on. Let's go after her and find out what has her running all the way out here."

Star shrugged. "Okay, I guess. It's not like we're doing anything important."

Bolt frowned. "It's also our job to be able to chose wisely with our challenges so we don't force older teams to come after us. If what Sawnroot has is important it's likely too dangerous for us and if it isn't important it shouldn't concern us. Either way, we should stay out of it."

"He's right," Natalie said. "Mrs. Sawnroot already might not want us involved so we might get in the way."

"I'd rather not be a burden if I can help it," Apple muttered.

"What attitude is this?" Feevo demanded. "How can we be proper Rescue Teams if we don't even try to help when it looks like there's a person who needs it?"

Siri nodded. "Just because we're experienced it doesn't excuse us from putting in our effort."

"Damn right, and I'm going off to do that even if you guys don't feel up to it," Feevo said. Keeping to his word he then ran off after Sawnroot at full speed which was far too fast for any of his friends to keep up with had they tried to go after him.

Siri frowned as she looked at Feevo's fading figure. He knew she wanted to help too. He could have waited for her, but oh well. Maybe she could convince the others to help as well... Right after she saw what new message made her phone buzz.

Siri took her MyPhone out of her inner shell storage and stared at what came up on the screen for several seconds. The message gave her a clue on what might have put Sawnroot in such a hurry.

...

Sawnroot slowed down to a stop and panted to catch her breath. She had been running for awhile now and wasn't in as good of shape as most Pokemon living in town would be to do such a thing. Why? Because instead of risking her life in a Rescue Team at an early age she chose to stay in school and eventually graduate from college. Despite the natural urge to battle some Pokemon end up doing that and getting a safer job instead of joining a team, fighting through life threatening missions, and having the option to retire in their late twenties when the talented had accumulated enough wealth from their jobs to live off of for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately Sawnroot was sort of squeamish and couldn't handle much violence.

"Hey Mrs. Sawnroot!" she heard from behind her as she was about to set of running again.

"Hm." She turned with some anxiety over being held up.

She was perturbed yet curious to see the young Treecko she had just spoken to racing towards her.

"Oh, Joshua. I just spoke to you didn't I? I'm sorry, but I'm in a bit of a hurry."

Feevo stopped in front of Sawnroot, just short of running into her, and stood up. Unlike her, he was not out of breath at all after the running to catch up with her. On any other day she might have felt envious of this, but only just a little. Okay, maybe more than 'a little'.

"Yeah, I know. That's why I'm here," Feevo said.

Sawnroot blinked. "What?"

"Since you asked for my uncle and cuz I figured you must have need some help which I'm happy to do," Feevo said with his chest puffed out over dramatically.

"What?"

"I wanna help you with whatever's got ya running around like this," Feevo said, rewording his statement.

Sawnroot didn't seem to need to dwell on the question of whether or not to allow Feevo his request for long. "Sorry Joshua, but I don't want you to be put in any danger."

Feevo was a bit taken back. "I can-"

"Feevo!" came from the distance cutting him off as his friends came into view from behind him.

"I'm really sorry. I know you want to help but I'm still not entirely sure about what I'm dealing with and I need a team experienced in tracking to approach this. You should go to your friends," Sawnroot told him before she continued on to wherever she had been headed.

Feevo sagged as he watched her leave, then he turned to his friends when he heard Siri calling him again. He dropped on all fours and ran to meet them halfway (or rather 3/4 of the way. He was rather fast.)

"You guys came to help out after all!" Feevo exclaimed as they met up.

Star shook her head. "Not really."

"We just came to see if things were going smoothly on your end," Bolt said.

"But we also found out why Mrs. Sawnroot ran all the way over to your house," Siri informed Feevo.

Feevo looked at her in surprise. "Really? I just left you guys like two minutes ago."

Natalie shrugged. "News travels fast." Apple, at her side, nodded.

Feevo easily believed that but was still curious. "Okay. So what's got Mrs. Sawnroot jumping around? Did Arbor get stuck in a well... again."

"Close," Natalie said. "Arbor got swallowed up by a Mystery Dungeon that formed in the woods about ten minutes ago."

"How is that close?" Bolt asked.

"Or in the words of Axel, who sent me a text about it," Siri started, "_BTG! ArborS jst got swallowd by an MD dat spawned wen he wznt lukin!" _She looked at her notifications. "Oh, he just sent me another text. This one says, _'A hol bunch of Partials came outa d MD. They're attackin!"_

Apple frowned when Siri finished reading. "That's horrible. No wonder Mrs. Sawnroot was running around for help."

"Yeah, but why didn't she just call for help over the phone instead of running to people's houses?" Star asked.

Natalie shrugged. "Who knows, but if she hadn't come Axel's text might have been dismissed as a hoax. He's sent a fake texts to get us to run over to him before."

Feevo pumped his fist. "And cause of that we can fight those Partials attacking Axel... Where is he?"

"In the woods," Star answered.

"Right. Save Axel in the woods!"

"Well, considering you it's only natural that you would want us to go. We'll check the situation and retreat for help if it's too much for us," Bolt decided.

"Hey, I'm the leader of this team," Feevo protested. "Where do you get off trying to take over?"

"Feevo, we already agreed on Bolt's plan of action," Star said. "If you want we can talk about this on the way there but let's not stand here while Axel's getting hurt."

Being reminded of the small crisis seemed to make Feevo more cooperative and he nodded.

The group then ran off to the woods, ready to put themselves in the path of danger to help their friends.

...

Radar frowned as he looked out the door of the cabin that he and Tails currently occupied. Bonnie had been with them for a while before she excused herself from their company, saying something about having to do something on another part of the train. He wasn't sure what Bonnie was doing or where she was but that didn't concern Radar. He was more worried about Jewel.

When he had first met the Cyndaquil she seemed to be loud and eccentric but he had noticed her becoming quieter and more withdrawn as time went on. He didn't say anything about it at the time but it unnerved him a bit. Then after taking only three mouthfuls of her dinner she had set the rest of her food on fire and left while Tails and Radar tried to put out the fire and Bonnie stared at it in fascination. They hadn't seen her since then.

Although he had trusted her enough to not be against letting her know why he and Tails had need to come out here Radar would be the third to say that Jewel was unpredictable and sort of hard to read. (First and second places go to Raven and Travis respectively.) Somewhat aware of this he was afraid of what she might say or do around the train.

"You've been looking out the door for twenty minutes."

Radar looked at Tails who had taken his attention away from the television to regard him. The tournament was closing but he wanted to know what the Rattata was looking out for.

Radar gave out more look out and with a sigh closed the door and walked away from it.

Tails was even more curious now. "What were you looking out there for?"

Radar sat down beside the Buizel. "I'm just waiting for that Cyndaquil to come back here. We haven't seen her ever since she ran off during diner.

Tails grimaced, remembering the incident. "Yeah..." In his haste to douse the fire he had accidentally drowned all of their food with his Water Gun. Bonnie wasn't too bothered and had even offered to have more conjured for them but they weren't in the mood to eat by then.

Tails shook his head, forgetting about it. "Are you worried about her?" he asked.

Radar nodded. "A little. I mean, she's the only other one on the train who knows why we're on here. I still don't know why we told her actually."

"Well, she did say that she's going to help us with getting my Water Compass back before she even knew what we were doing so we had to tell her," Tails said.

Radar nodded. "Yeah, I guess, but we didn't have to tell her the details."

Tails shrugged. "Well, it didn't seem like it should have matted. The letter those bad mon left said to not tell just adults and I think Jewel's just a kid. That's why we didn't say anything to Bonnie. Right?"

"Yeah, I know, but I'm just a bit worried about what Jewel will do. She doesn't seem too bad but I'm finding it hard to trust her. She hasn't said anything about herself yet and who knows what's going through her head," Radar said worryingly.

"She must be thinking hard about something. That's probably why she get quiet and set her food on fire," Tails suggested.

Radar considered it. "Do you think it has something to do with why she followed onto the train?"

"She said it was because she was bored, didn't she?" Tails recalled.

"Well that what she said, but could there have been another reason?" Radar wondered.

Tails wondered as well and chuckled as a thought came to him. "You know, I remember watching an episode of Vortus Powers that had a situation like this, except it was on a boat instead of a train."

"You mean the one where a man lets the heroes onto his tour submarine that's usually impossible to get tickets for on such short notice so they could ride to a city at the bottom of the sea where their mission was which was actually just a trap waiting for them?" Radar frowned. "The guy who let them onto his submarine was part of that trap. Are you saying that that's what Jewel is doing?"

Tails shook his head. "No. This just reminds me of that episode."

Radar shrugged. "I guess. We did need help from a conveniently friendly stranger to get onto the only thing that could bring us over to a huge city where nearby a trap is waiting for us."

"But unlike them we know it's a trap," Tails said.

"Yeah, but we're still just walking into it without a plan or backup. And unlike them or friends and family don't even know where were are too so I think we're worse off than they were," Radar pointed out.

"Well yeah, but we still don't know what Jewel has. With her help we might be better off than we would have been since she has magic and whatever she has that she said wasn't public knowledge," Tails said.

"But if it's not public knowledge why would she use it around us?" Radar asked.

"Oh. Um. We should probably ask her what she plans to do in a fight if we get into one," Tails said.

Radar nodded. "I think she liked it when we said we might get into a fight so she must be experienced. When she comes back we could even make up a plan together."

Just then the two were startled as the train shook and the lights flickered before going out along with the rest of the power in the room. It was dark for a few moments before the sound of static filled the room and continued on when it became bright. Radar yelped when a blinding light flooded the cabin as it came from the window. A loud bird like shriek that seem to come from above rang out while the sound of static crackling only increased in volume. The static noise then ended as the sound of an explosion was heard and the shrieking stopped.

This all happened in five second. After which the bright light from outside had dimmed, though the power did not come back to the cabin. With the lighting being provided through the windows as the only artificial difference it looked as if nothing had happened in the room. The only thing out of place were the two children on the floor in varying levels of terror.

The train slowed to a stop.

"What was that?" Radar yelled still hidden under the seat he had ran to when the light had nearly blinded him.

"I-I don't know," Tails responded as he slowly got to his feet, having fallen over from the surprise. He took a look out the window. "There's a big yellow, glowing wall outside. Is that a shield?"

Radar crawled out from under the seat, still looking a bit fearful. "Something just happened to the train."

The speaker on the ceiling of the room then took their attention as a voice spoke out. Operating on a different source of power then the rest of the technology of the train the speaker was always ensured to be working in the time of an emergency. "Hello passengers. We are afraid that there has been a disturbance of the security and power systems and we are forced to make an unplanned stop to proceed with the repairs required to restore this train to a functioning state. be assured that there are no dangers around you though our arrival to Aarenthide will be delayed. We are sorry for any inconveniences."

Radar frowned. "I don't like that."

Tails nodded. "I don't either, but it's probably just for an hour or two. But I wonder what-" Tails stopped in mid sentence as a thought came to him.

Radar looked up at the Buizel. "Tails, what's wrong?"

"...Uh, just nothing."

Radar was unconvinced but didn't press further. "Ok..."

...

It wasn't that she wanted to leave, but rather she couldn't stand staying.

That's what lead Jewel to wander the train until she found a ladder that brought her to the roof. It was a little fun being up there. For one thing the train was moving quite fast and she enjoyed the feeling as the air fanned her. Yes, the force was enough to completely blow a Pokemon of similar size and weight off the train completely but it was child's play for her to keep her footing on the smooth surface of the train's roof.

Then there was the Staraptor that she had caught the attention of. Without even looking at its energy she could tell that it was a Partial. It had focus in it's eyes but in them she still didn't see intellect on the levels that could be seen in a Whole. she liked to watch it fly over and try to figure out the shield. She also liked the fact that it was so convenient for the bird to be there.

Well aware that the bird would leave soon if it found no way at her Jewel tried to shift its focus to following her as she ran on the roof of the train towards its locomotive. She jumped from car to car, not once looking up to see if the bird of prey from above was following. She knew that it was.

Jewel jumped onto the last car and smirked as she realized that she might have actually picked up something useful on the train.

Recalling what she had done earlier Jewel ran a quick incantation in her head. The spell came to her automatically and with a single thought and a flash she used a portion of her energy to form a large slab of meat in her paws that was almost as large as she was. She wasn't very large herself though. She didn't care what species to meat was off as long as that bird would go after it.

Another thought, and another flash brought a chain held in Jewel's mouth as her paws were full. With some difficulty she tied it around the meat then created a protective bubble of energy around it. The bubble protected it from the wind, which would blow it away if she let go of it. Once finished with the bubble Jewel flung the meat over her head. The shield of the train, usually invisible, became apparent as the corpse passed through it without trouble, and continued to remain visible when Jewel tried to tug the meat and the shield prevented it from coming back to her. The chain was left hanging down to her.

The Staraptor, noticing the action, swooped down just as Jewel climbed the chain. She reached the top of the train when the Staraptor grabbed at the bait and at the same time she reached out and grabbed its foot.

Now remember when it was mentioned that the tags laced around every passengers neck or pinned on if they did not have a neck were enchanted to prevent unauthorized departure of the train. The kind of thing that Jewel was doing right now. When she put her paw out of the shield the tag was triggered a released a paralyzing blast of electricity into her, which spread to the Staraptor. The shield around the train also reacted badly to Jewel's contact with it and fiercely tried to push her back in, while ignoring the meat and cable she hung from. She, in turn ignored it as well as all of the electricity that struck her. The only recognition she gave was suppressing the shield's attempt to keep her in by creating another bubble around herself using her soul energy which muffled the shields own energy back down to the level it was moments ago. That was only for the portion of the shield inside her bubble though as the rest surrounding the train just grew brighter. The added light only annoyed Jewel, so she gathered up soul energy in a ball by her foot a kicked it down to the train wondering if that would stop the light. The ball went right through the roof, creating a large hole.

The Staraptor panicked, and of course in pain shrieked and tried to pull out. As soon as she felt this Jewel suppressed all energy from the shield and joined the Staraptor as she was pulled out. The wind pelted them both, now throwing the Staraptor back as it's muscles stiffened from the electricity. Jewel erected another bubble around herself and the bird which bounced on the shield of the train, then off to be left behind.

Left on the tracks Jewel smirked at the train as it sped off and tore the tag off of her neck. She then looked at the chain she still held and the Staraptor that was paralyzed beside her.

...

Back on the train, employees were rushed to fix the case of their shield which was at full power and would not be turn off or put at a lower power as the commands for that were lost when Jewel's attack destroyed the control panel. The fainted conductors and engineers, also victims of the attack. The damaged power system, also affected by the attack. And the rapidly depleting power that was needlessly being used up by the shield that they could not turn off. It was frustrating and they were all looking for who was to blame for this injustice. They did not know that it was Jewel who had left and damaged the train just yet. Though, not all of them were ignorant of the fact. A Gabite who was newly employed, having just started a week ago, knew.

The Gabite had hid in an unoccupied cabin, and leaning on the wall he gazed at the magical screens in front of him, only visible to his eyes. All of the screens showed various images to him. Some presented the cabins the passengers were occupying while others showed employees working. He focused on two. One stood out to him more than the other. Raising a claw to tap the screen he had it replay the scene.

Taking note he cancelled the spell and left the cabin to return to his duties.

...

Pokepedia: Spirit and Soul Energy in Battle

...

Hello pupils. I am Magnol, the adorable blue Mew with the awesome color changing scarf and this is Pokepedia, your guide to my world. This lesson is another one focusing on aspects of Pokemon battle. We focused on stats right? Well, this time we'll focus on the basic use of spiritual and soul energy in battle. For once though I'm not alone. Victini is here to help show you how it's done.

I took my place in front of the class with my red and cream cousin. As usual she danced on her spot on the floor, unable to stat still due to her boundless energy (which also made her hyper. And maybe she had ADHD). Well, that's probably not it exactly. She can stay still with little to no bad effects, but she just doesn't want to half the time.

At least she entertained the class though. They all watched her with interest as she hummed a catchy tune to herself and did a bunch of dance tricks that she must have learned from Meloetta. All while seeming oblivious to all around her. I want to join!

Oh, but I can't. Have to be mature in front of the class.

Wait, what's that? It's that evil red dot on the floor! With all the speed I possessed in my body I pounced onto the dot, determined to capture it this time. Like always though it disappears before I got to it and my face crashed into the floor. I could hear Lithium laughing, followed by the laughter of some other children. How I love the laughter of children.

I opened my eyes and saw the dot dancing in front of my face. It's taunting me! I got to my feet and prepared to make the evil red dot pay, but then remembered. I have a class to teach. I gave the red dot a distasteful glare, vowing that I would rid it from all worlds one day.

So like a good kitten teacher I turned back to the class and addressed them.

"Guys, we're continuing from our last lesson which was on stats and their use in battling," I said.

I would have said more but Victini, still dancing, then spoke up. "And now we're showing ya how it's done the spiritual way!"

Without my permission everyone in the room were then teleported out. Even with my attempt to stop Victini she (very) easily transported everyone to an active training field. None of those training looked our way or even acknowledged our presence aside from restraining to allow any attacks to hit the children. Me and Victini were fair game, however.

I used my tail to bat away attacks aimed at my that weren't too strong. Ones that were too strong I dodged but there weren't too many of those. Victini must have sent us to a field used by recruits being prepped for their starts as privates in our military. Oh yeah, we have a military here, and I'm a Marshal! Wait. You don't know where 'here' is?

"Hi, Daddy!" Akaidi shouted.

"Hey baby girl!" came a shout back from a Serperior who was engaged in a battle with a Samurott. Answering his daughter nearly got him his head cut off as his opponent wouldn't let up on him. She didn't even seem to care that his daughter could have just witnessed him slaughtered. Cruel, but these guys have awesome training, especially that Serperior to spend even a second having his focus swayed and not get killed or even scratched. Though he should treat his training more seriously.

Wait, I know that Serperior! He's one of the Noble Generals along with his training buddy.

"Hi Jacquet!" I called out to him.

Again, he almost got his tail cut off answering. He really needs to focus.

It's great to see him after so much time. Wait, what was I doing here? Yeah, that's right. I have to teach my class. Though it seems that Victini took the liberty of starting off on the lesson without me. There's no reason that she's my favorite cousin if she goes and does stuff like that to me. I get along with Manaphy more but he like to hang around Shaymin. Despite her taking the fame away from me in my own class time I still love Victini though.

"Ya see everyone around you training like crazy?" Victini asked but didn't give anyone time to respond as she continued. "Even without concentrating you can feel the spirit and soul energy they're loading into their attacks and throwing into the air."

"And if you do concentrate you get a picture of a little of what they're feeling," I added. Gotta take part in teaching my class. "Like they say, 'Battle is just another form of communication'."

A Totodile, whose name was Creed, raised his hand and when I gestured for him to speak he pointed at a pair of lovers sparring. "Is that why from them I'm feeling-"

Love is beautiful, but... "Block those two out!" I hissed.

"Just those two? There are dozens sparring here that are giving off the same feelings," a female Nidoran, named Lotus, pointed out.

As the murmurs of agreement came from the other students I realized that this was a problem. I can't expose the innocent children to the thoughts of these sick Pokemon. I sent a glance at Victini, but in her time of not talking she had returned to dancing. I flicked my tail to deflect an attack. Looks like I'll have to fix this myself.

Victini might not want me to move the students again right after she had put them here so I'll just put up a barrier to keep all the bad thoughts out. The power radiating from myself shimmered into existence in the form of a protective dome around the youth. Now the only influences these children will face will the adorable Magnol and dancing Victini. I hope you will agree that they are in the best of paws.

"Hey! I was following a fight!" Lithium barked.

"Follow my words," I said pointing to my awesome self. Well, she's supposed to. "The first use of power that we're going over is spiritual energy."

"After that comes soul energy!" Victini squeaked.

"And before that comes spirit energy!" Gamma squeaked also in a high pitched mocking tone.

"And after that comes soul energy!" Victini repeated.

"And before that comes spirit energy!" Gamma continued seemingly for the sake of it.

"And after that comes soul energy!"

"And before that-"

"SHUT UP!" a Fennekin, named Sipa, yelled.

Aww! I wanted to see how long that would last. But I guess it's time to get on with the lesson.

"-comes spirit energy!" Victini finished for Gamma.

I produced a silver megaphone engraved with my image out of hammer-space.** "The basic use of spiritual energy in battle include communication, intent, knowledge, emotion, and willpower. The last three suggest that the Spirit Trio of Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie are involved, which you should have guessed from their group name alone." **The children were annoyed by the megaphone but since their attention were all on me all was right in my world. The megaphone went back into hammer-space.

Victini stopped her dancing for a moment. "The Spirit Sisters are my Aunts and each of them control a special part of spirituality. They're like super important."

"They're _our _Aunts, and the aspects of spirituality they control mean the difference between getting one hit KO'd and easily beating the destroyer of worlds. In battle the forces of two spirits clash and the stronger one is usually the one that comes out as the winner. You see, the force of a spirit is fluctuating and there are various things that can affect it. This means that the results of the same two spirits fighting can always come out differently. Our Aunts specialize in bringing out the most in the spirit aspect they represent," I said.

"It's cool stuff, yeah? But it can be a pain to try to control. You can almost never go into full power unless you're super motivated. Then your spirit can force out even more power from your soul to help it fight. You all had practice with that in my class, right?" Victini asked.

The answers were varying but they weren't about my class so I didn't care about them.

"Anyways," I started bringing them back to me. "I'll be giving you some basic info on the spirit aspects now."

"_We'll _be giving you some basic info on the spirit aspects now," Victini corrected.

Looks like Victini has the spirit of teamwork. That's what makes us so great when we're together, along with how incredibly badass we are if we tag team. Almost no one stands a chance against us.

I nodded happily. "Of course. Us."

"We aren't learning anything!" one of the students loudly reminded us.

We have to fix that. The teachers should be teaching.

"Right. The first we speak of is willpower, Azelf's specialty."

"Willpower is a force of determination and self-discipline. You've all seen how good I am a that. I'm a pro!" Victini boasted. She's right. You should see the self-discipline she has to have to motivate herself to do something even when the boss tells her, 'No, that's not allowed.' She has all the fun because of that.

The shield was transparent and I gestured to one of the lines of recruits being trained in intense routines. The sight of them, even with the differences they may have had in body shape, moving in perfect sync was really a sight to behold. I let the spirit energy they may have leaked flow into the bubble for the students to feel themselves.

"What you're feeling from the spirits of these dedicated recruits are willpower. It helps them push their bodies beyond the breaking point they should have passed by now and force out more soul energy to increase their capabilities. Easy enough, to talk about at least."

An attack passed straight through the barrier and nearly hit me if I hadn't dodged at the last second. In horror, I then noticed that it was heading towards one of the students.

"No!"

The student, Lacrosse, sidestepped the attack with seemingly no care and remained unwavering by the burst of energy it released with it hit the ground near her. Creed, who had been standing close by nearly fell over from the burst. Lithium sneered at him.

"You're pathetic. Stay away from my sister!"

"Hey, I wasn't ready for that."

"..."

Seeing that the children were okay I put in my power to strengthen the barrier since I don't want that to happen again. Victini helped by doing a handstand and other tricks to entertain the kids. She's so helpful.

"That won't happen again. Promise." I vowed.

"Why don't you drop the shield. If my father ever saw anyone's attacks threaten us he'd issue proper punishment that would discourage anyone else from aiming in our direction ever again," Akaidi suggested.

I put my paws at me hips. "And you don't think that I have authority here?"

"You don't. You control the first division, Victini controls this one," a Cubchoo pointed out.

Defeated, I returned to the lesson.

"The next aspect is emotion."

"Emotion is Mesprit's specialty. It's also what keeps her insane ninety percent of the time due to feeling multiple emotions at the same time," Victini informed.

"That's just bad for her though, and it can also be bad for anyone else since feeling the wrong emotions can make the force of your spirit weaker, making it easier for other spirits to overpower you. Positive emotions on the other hand are either neutral on spirit force or they enhance it," I explained perfectly.

"You're just going to ignore my suggestion to drop the shield..."

The shield protects their innocence from the sick thoughts of the Pokemon around us. I can't drop it.

"No one's smarter than Uxie, which is why she specializes in knowledge. She also reads a lot, which is a waste of time since she already knows everything," Victini said. It is a waste of time isn't it?

"When we're talking about knowledge here it's not about what you know but what you're familiar with. Knowledge retained by the mind is lost with each incarnation but when the spirit encounters something from a past life that it's dealt with before it will act accordingly."

Now we're done with the Spirit Trio's aspects let's move onto the other two.

"Communication!" I proclaimed as the new topic.

"Didn't we already go over that?" a Snorunt asked.

A Gligar shook his head. "No, I think it was just touched then turned off when Magnolia here noticed the dirty stuff."

"And since I'm sure that they're still out there I'm not putting down the shields," I said. "That means that this topic is gonna be mostly talk."

Most of them were indifferent towards this decision, which was the best I could hope for.

"You've all practiced this in my class. It's the best form of honesty after all," Victini said.

"Right." I agreed. "Though you can camouflage your own spiritual signature that cloak doesn't usually hold up well in a battle. When it comes down you're throwing all your thoughts and feelings at your opponent in your spirit force. The stronger your force is the more of your feels get through and the sharper your spirit sense is (as in, how well you're able to sense spirit energy) the more you can pick up. This is really good for making fights and disagreements go away. Just beat each other up and you'll understand each other."

"So you're telling us to fight more to fight less?" Lotus tried to get clarified.

I nodded, glad that she was picking up on this valuable lesson. "Yes."

"Now last on the spirit train Is intent."

"We're not on a train!" one student yells.

"It's a figure of speech you r-tard!" Sipa spoke rudely to him. At least she censored herself.

"And it's a good one!" I chirped.

"I think it's a stupid one," Victini said.

... At least she's honest unlike some others. I'm talking about you red dot, with your promise of fun with your bright color and making me crash into things! I will get you one day!

Onto the lesson.

"Intent is about the way you intend to attack," Victini started for me.

"The way you intend to attack as in; do you want it to kill or not. I hope we can all freely admit that it would be a bit hard to go all out when training with our friend if we couldn't control whether or not you could kill them with your attacks. That's where intent comes in. In battle your attacks can be set to three stages which are, friendly, neutral, and hostile. Hostile is the one that can kill quite easily and can bypass defenses that aren't prepared. It's harder to kill with neutral but still possible if you're careless with your environment. Friendly force causes next to no damage, no recoil, it barely pushes, and it produces little elemental energy. This makes it of better use for mundane activities and practicing moves than the other forces are."

"And now we're on to soul energy!" Victini squealed.

"Which comes after... Uh..." Gamma paused from the look Sipa gave him.

Satisfied, she retracted her gaze. "It's all in the eyes."

"Now listen here," I said. "Spirit energy isn't like soul energy. Soul energy in it's purest form is the rawest, most infinite, most powerful, most volatile, most dangerous form of energy in the omniverse, capable of killing Kyurem easily if he ever messes with it. Luckily for him, when that happened we were able to revive him since he's immortal and a god. Usually though the dangerous energy the soul has is watered down by layers that it keeps around itself. A spirit, incapable of being harmed by the energy of a soul it attaches itself to, and able to pass through the layers, can take energy for it's own purposes with increasing difficulty the deeper in it goes. The soul energy it takes also gets more powerful the deeper in it's taken from, which means that the enhancements it gives you in all areas also become more powerful the deeper in you go."

"Out of all the gods I'm the best at being able to pull out my soul energy. That's because of-"

"I thought that was a secret," I cut Victini off.

She stopped her dancing. "Oh yeah." She gave me a salute. "Thanks. Don't want to just give them an answer for my class... which starts right now. Everyone find a sparring partner, and step aside Mew," She commanded everyone.

Some of the students cheered, happy to move onto their training class. Victini (rudely) pushed me out of the way and strutted to the class as they formed their groups. They just left me behind.

What! Are they all that willing to forget about me and go beat on their friends in an active military training field? Even Victini! I should-

Wait, my phone's ringing.

My adorable blue devise materialized into my adorable blue paw. I checked my messages and brought up a new one from Shaymin. A smile graced my face while I read it.

We've been assigned a new mission with Darkrai and Entei. Afternoon of adventure and saving the innocents here I come.

* * *

**The students in Pokepedia had more dialogue than before which really stretched this one out but I'm trying to be at least somewhat realistic with their behavior. In my classes it's odd for the students to be quiet.**

**As for the genders of legendaries, just noting that of the Spirit Trio which is a fan nickname that fit in this story perfectly, I'm completely neutral on seeing them as either boy or girl so they're actually just genderless while being identified as females since genders are well known to you viewers and easy to assign and go with them here. Why is this important? Because it applies for most legendaries not on Earth. In a big omniverse it's impractical to think that things like gender would line up with a way they are on Earth or Vortus (the name of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon world). For that reason I've decided to make the word 'Pokemon' a universal term here. Just because I can.**

**Anyway I'm a bit nervous with this x and y generation coming out. I already have in my head of what Xerneas and Yveltal would be like but any info could ruin that (by the way, I'm in the camp Xerneas female, Yveltal male). There's also the rumored fairy type and that Mawile will gain that type. I was already surprised when I saw Helioptile and thought it was a pre evolution immediately (then realized it wasn't) but I wonder what a fairy type could change. It's just a rumor though, but possible and I'm willing to embrace it. Good thing we're not that far in, though I'd like to make progress on this story by October. I'll just have to leave my story open for updates and revise where necessary. **

**Favorite or follow if you like, bye!**

_-10,872 wordcount**  
**_


	6. Be Sure to Watch Your Back

**Chapter 6.**

* * *

Axel focused his energy as he prepared to attack. The young Sandile hadn't any plans on fighting at first but when Feevo and his gang showed up and he was pulled out of his hiding place in the bushes by the Treecko he had little say in the matter. Seeing that some of his friends were here to fight the Partials had him in a better mood to fight them than he had been while by himself. Still, he didn't like his position with the flying, bug, and grass types that came out of the newly formed Mystery Dungeon. His ground attacks won't affect the flying-types while the attacks coming from the grass and bug types would hurt more than he'd like.

With a groan Axel just decided to accept that he was in a battle against attacking Partials and get this over with. He was sure that in some way he'd lose the rest of his day to this.

Axel released a yelp as he was hit in the side by the Poison Sting of an attacking Weedle. It didn't hurt too much though. In fact, it barely hurt at all. With an app on his phone Bolt had placed these Partials at between 3 to 5 in levels which made them fairly weak, but there were many of them that had come out of the dungeon.

Axel used Dig to get out of the fire of the attack before other Partials could notice him and join in. The thought of just staying underground came to him before he realized that Feevo could just drag him out again. With that in mind he searched for vibrations in the ground created by everyone stomping about from above him. When he found four Partials clumped together he went after them.

'_I can only do a circle of two feet.' _Axel reminded himself before he blasted soil at the Partials from under them in an explosion of sorts. The ground element the dirt had in them for the moment worked as good as they would in any other attack and gave the Partials decent damage. These Partials were then buried as the soil rained back down on them to refill the hole that Axel had created.

Axel came back to the surface a short distance away next to the Weedle that had first attacked him. It didn't notice him before he bit into it, then spat it out immediately regretting having put it in his mouth.

He gagged. "That tastes almost as bad as Heal Powder!"

Feevo, who had been fighting nearby, chuckled as he finished pounding an Oddish with his tail. "Yeah. Well, poison-types."

Scattering a Sleep Powder around herself, Apple frowned but resigned to not say anything.

Axel didn't have much time to think on Feevo's response as he was, once again, attacked by a Partial that he hadn't been paying attention to.

Axel may have not found this as easy as he should have as he became ganged up on but everyone else were faring well. Feevo attacked with speed while healing any damage he got with Absorb. Star and Siri watched each others backs so neither were hit by many attacks. Apple sprayed ailment powders around herself which handled those who ventured too close and she used her long range attacks for any who were farther away. Natalie was able to quickly dispatch Partials and use Faint Attack to move herself out of any unfavorable places. Finally, Bolt, like Apple, stayed in one spot and paralyzed any Partials who got too close. He also used Hidden Power to knock down flying types within his range.

It wasn't much of a surprise that after ten minutes every hostile Partial around them were knocked out.

"I think that's the last of them," Feevo said after punching out a Bellsprout with Drain Punch.

"Yeah, unless more of them come out of the dungeon," Natalie said as she pointed to the dungeon that a Partial could jump out of at any moment.

Bolt shook his head. "No. Partials only come out of dungeons like this when they've first formed. This dungeon should have stabilized enough that it won't allow Partials to walk out like that again."

"Where did you learn that from?" Siri asked.

"A book," Bolt supplied. Somehow he managed to do this without sounding like a smart-ass.

"Did that book say something about what happened to Arbor when he just fell in while the dungeon formed?" Star asked.

Bolt shook his head, earning a few frowns from the others.

Axel took his phone out of a knapsack he had strapped on. "Do you think the internet might say something about it?"

Bolt shrugged. "I don't know, but you can try."

Axel nodded and proceeded to search for the subject on his phone. He rose up onto his hind legs with surprising ease and held the devise in his hands.

Apple walked towards the dungeon. Noticing the action the others followed. She looked at the entrance of the dungeon which didn't look like what you might expect an entrance to a dungeon might look like. The sight of a normal dirt path leading deeper into the woods in front of them stopped abruptly when it reached a shimmering space of land. Anything beyond that appeared as a distorted, hazy image to their eyes and gave some of them headaches when trying to focus on it.

"Do you think we should go in for him?" Apple asked.

"Aren't there laws against us doing that..." Natalie said. She was right. It was pretty much forbidden for anyone who did not have a badge that could teleport them to safety outside of the dungeon to enter a dungeon. This was put into place for obvious reasons. Not like anyone cared if they didn't get caught though.

"But we are Rescue Teams," Feevo said.

"_Junior_ Rescue Teams," Bolt corrected him.

Feevo shrugged. "Close enough. We still can't just not do anything."

"We can just get an adult into the situation," Star suggested. "The Partials that came out of the dungeon were weak but who knows how much stronger they get on the inside."

"Star's right. For all we know this dungeon could be as dangerous as the ones in Zero Isle," Bolt said.

"But that just means that Arbor could be in much greater danger," Natalie said.

"Or this dungeon could be or level and Arbor could appreciate our help to get through it," Siri countered.

Star looked at them both in discontent. "We aren't getting any closer to getting him out of there by standing here talking, so let's not argue."

Bolt nodded. "Right, but we still can't just rule out the possibility that this could be a high level dungeon. We should ask a licensed Rescue Team to go in and search for him. At least they have badges to teleport out and communicate with each other if they get separated."

"You know that it's a busy day. What Rescue Teams are in town right now?" Feevo questioned.

"Travis'" Bolt answered.

"Didn't he leave to go after that Cyndaquil?" Siri asked.

"Actually he just went to the Train Station in the park," Star replied.

"Plus, with that Cyndaquil on a train she's likely to not be too hard to track. If the schedule of the train is favorable Travis' team can spare time to explore this dungeon and look for Arbor," Bolt said.

Feevo grumbled something under his breath that only Bolt could catch.

That should have been the end of this day's adventure for the young group of Junior Rescuers. The only thing that got in the way of that was the fact that their backs were turned in the wrong direction. A sudden torrent of flames attacked them from behind. They screamed from pain and surprise as the fire burned them and pushed them forward.

Right into the entrance of the Mystery Dungeon.

A few silent seconds passed by in the woods clearing before an Eevee rushed out of the bushes and towards the dungeon entrance. She stopped just short of the entrance and stared at it, trying to see past the shimmering haze for any sign of the children who just fell through.

After seconds of neither seeing nor sensing them she growled. "Dammit Blaze! Why did you just do that?"

She regarded the Charmander behind her who shrugged as his response.

"There was a fight here a few minutes ago. The signatures got mixed up and I thought they were Partials."

Raven barked. "So you attacked without even looking? Do you know how easy it is to not make a stupid mistake like that?" She wasn't falling for the lie. Not like he thought she would though.

Blaze smirked, showing no guilt. "Oh well. Whoops!"

Raven glared at him. "Unbelievable."

Blaze rolled his eyes as he strolled over to her. "What's making you care so much? What are the chances that they could actually get hurt in..." He gave the dungeon entrance a glance. "...whatever the hell that is."

"You don't even know what this is!" Raven exclaimed. "So why shouldn't I worry? This thing is sending off strange waves of spiritual energy that I can't even sense those kids signatures behind. How can you suppose that it couldn't get them injured, or even killed, by being in there?"

Blaze sneered. "Bitch, don't complain to me. You're the one interested in them being in there, not me."

"You're the one who pushed them in!"

"And I'm not lifting a claw for those gits." Resigned in his choice Blaze crossed his arms.

Raven stared at the Charmander for several moments. Then she pounced.

"The fuck!" Blaze yelled out as Raven whacked his side with her tail, sending him tumbling toward the dungeon entrance. He managed to fall in, but not before he grabbed Raven's tail and dragged her in with him.

...Idiots.

...

Travis, as well as Reeno and Carla, jerked their heads in the direction they had just felt Raven and Blaze's spirit signatures disappear.

You might wonder why Blaze and Raven were allowed to wander off on their own. Well, it's simple. Team Aerostorm were not babysitters. When Blaze complained that he was bored with them Raven (much to her protest) was assigned to look after him while he wandered the park and town since it was a far better option to letting him run off on his own. Even then though the three had still kept track of the two through their signatures, which have just vanished.

They three were seated at the outside tables of a food stand in the park. Carla dropped her food and jumped out of her seat.

"Well that was super wasteful," Travis commented through a mouthful of a sundae he had been enjoying.

"Yeah," Reeno agreed.

Carla shook her head at her apathetic teammates. "The salad only cost a hundred poke. You can't seriously be concerned with that, can you?"

Travis shook his head before throwing the rest of his sundae into his mouth. Reeno followed suit with his own food. "Nah, but that was still a waste."

The Tropius stood up. "Alright, let's see what the little lizard's gotten himself and Raven into."

"Travis, there you are!" someone called out.

The tree turned to the shouter.

"Hey Hana," Travis greeted.

"What do you want?' Reeno questioned.

"Reeno!" Carla hissed.

"What! She wants something," the Croconaw tried to defend himself.

"He's right," Hana (also known as Mrs. Sawnroot) said as she ran up to the three. She panted for a moment before continuing, "Do any of you know where Taylor or Mason might be?"

Travis shook his head. "No. Are they missing?"

"Yes," she affirmed. "A little more than an hour ago they were with me in Aspen's home while their mothers were away. I was looking after them but when I turned my back on them to get them a snack they had disappeared. I've been running around looking for them and asking others if they've seen them ever since then."

Reeno groaned. "So that makes what? Five missing kids?"

"Five?" Hana repeated, surprised. "There are three other children missing?"

"Well only two more are missing since we know were one of them is," Travis clarified, not knowing that this was no longer true.

"Plus, we know the general location of where the other two disappeared, so it shouldn't be hard to track them from there with Carla's aura sight," Reeno added.

Not feeling reassured Hana cried. "This can't be happening. What if there's a kidnapper going around taking children?"

"...That is possible," Carla admitted after considering the idea.

"Yeah," Travis said slowly, wondering if letting one of the only two Guardians on the planet wander off to get lost was a good idea. He wasn't worried about her at first because of what he had known about her kind, but it was all too possible that other Pokemon could know about Guardians and decide to take advantage of her being here.

It was an honest thought, but not one he was sure enough of to take seriously.

Reeno huffed. "Yeah, but no one's stupid enough to take Aspen's kid. She would hunt the guy down and kill him. They probably just ran away."

"What! No, they're just little boys and they're perfectly happy here," Hana said. "Where would they even run away to?"

The question gave Carla an odd feeling, as if she knew the answer to it. Had she seen anything?

"I don't know, but we'll be looking out for them," Travis responded.

"What about Raven, Blaze, and their friend?" Reeno asked.

"There's no reason we can't handle finding those guys as well," Travis said.

Hana smiled in gratitude. "Thank you all. I'll be sure to remember this."

"Think nothing of it," Travis said. "We're happy to help."

"Just continue looking for those two boys and let us know if you find them or anything that could help us," Carla advised.

"Right, I will," Hana said. She left with that.

"Okay guys, I'm going to teleport us. Are you two feeling alright, because I don't want to smell vomit again," Travis said.

Despite herself, Carla blushed. "That was only one time."

"One time too many."

Reeno chuckled. "And just when we were trying to sneak up on those dogs."

Carla's glare didn't faze him in the slightest. She gave up and sighed. "Let's not keep Blaze and Raven waiting."

"Yeah, if something serious happened they might be dead by now," Reeno said.

"Well, that's positive thinking," Travis remarked.

Their bodies gave off a multicolored glow before they all disappeared.

...

"What!" both Tails and Radar exclaimed.

Bonnie repeated herself. "Your friend was the one who caused the train's technical issues while she broke through the shield and jumped off."

Said shield was still up and at full power, filling the room with the light that it gave off. The rest of the train however still did not have power being fed through it. Repairs were being made but the train was still not moving nor were there any differences in the conditions the passengers had to put up with since they were set at Jewels break out.

"But why?" Radar asked, still taking this in with shock.

Bonnie shrugged. "I don't know, but if I heard right from what she's said before, she must have gotten bored then left."

"That... make sense," Tails admitted, though he was not happy with this conclusion.

"How do you know that Jewel jumped off the train? Did you see this?" Radar asked.

"I have a spell that allowed me to see what had happened on the outside of the train during the incident," Bonnie answered.

"Can we see?" Tails asked.

"Sure." Bonnie put up her spell which brought up a screen in front of the two young boys. She rewound back to the scene and they watched quietly.

"The gods know what she's planning to do with that bird," Bonnie said as she put down the spell. "Anything else I can show you is her tying it up with that chain and dragging it off the tracks. Hopefully she uses it as a form of transportation, and not food. The poor thing."

"Transportation?" Radar echoed. "How can she ride a wild Staraptor? That thing looked like it was more likely to eat her than take her wherever she wanted to go."

"She may have her ways," Bonnie said. "Just like she had her way past the magical shield." She walked over to the door and used Telekinesis to open it. Before leaving she looked back at Tails and Radar. "Sorry boys. Hopefully you guys will meet up again soon and Jewel will give you your answers."

The door closed behind her and the two in the room immediately turned to each other.

"Jewel isn't reliable, is she?" Tails asked.

"Of course she isn't. She's also crazy!" Radar hissed. "What is she thinking?"

Noticing the bitterness held by the Rattata Tails blinked. "Why are you angry? We weren't even close to Jewel."

"She abandoned us!" Radar exclaimed. "She swore that she would help us. We even told her that we were out here to get your Water Compass back, and she just abandoned us."

Radar stomped away and sat down on one of the seats with a huff.

Tails stared at his friend feeling a little more than helpless at how to deal with his anger. There have been several times that Radar had gotten this way is the past. Each time caused by someone else and Tails had never been sure of what to do. Radar would never tell him why he was affected this way.

Tails sighed and resigned to take a seat away from the outraged Rattata. Make no mistake, Tails was aware that Radar was fully justified in being peeved off that Jewel ran into their lives, made promises, then ran out without warning. He was less than pleased with the Cyndaquil's behavior himself. However he felt that Radar was taking it more personally than he should have. He was curious as to why but his mother had told him before to not pry into a persons business if they didn't want to talk about it, which seemed to apply for now.

Still, not being content with silence, Tails decided to speak. "Bonnie thought that we might meet up with Jewel again. Do you think that's possible?"

"I'm not sure what to think about what she might do. She's probably decided she doesn't want to be around us. We haven't told her the dungeon we're going to that the thieves told us to meet them in. Also I've never seen her in town before so she might not even live there," Radar said bitterly. "Let's stop talking about her. I don't think that we're going to see her again."

"Alright," Tails accepted. "But since we're one person down maybe we can come up with something to make up for it."

"What could we possibly come up with that could help us?" Radar inquired.

"The train stops at a big city. If there's a credit card in that bag we stole we could buy some supplies," Tails suggested.

Yes, these two stole that bag from someone. They had the modesty to feel guilty but not enough to not use up anything they found in there. Hey, don't think too badly of them. They did at least decide to repay whatever money they used up in any way they could.

"There is one actually," Radar said. "What supplies do you think we'll need."

"I have some ideas but we can wait until we get to a shop to really decide. Now come on," Tails requested as he hopped of his seat and went over to the door. Radar looked at him curiously.

"Where are we going?"

"This train has a lot of things in it. I think that I heard from somewhere that there's a battlefield for the adults to go if they wanted to fight. I think that we should find it and start practicing our skills," Tails said.

"Our skills? I don't think that a few hours of training will make a difference." Still, while saying this Radar got off his seat and walked out of the door that Tails held open. The Buizel closed the door behind them.

...

Elsewhere on the train...

Bonnie hummed a tune to herself as she waddled through the corridors of the flame atop her head cast a gleam on the dimly lit hall.

Bonnie stopped at one cabin's door and without even knocking opened it using Telekinesis. Inside of the cabin was a Gabite (you remember him right?) lazily splayed over on of the seats and watching TV, which had power for some reason.

Bonnie raised a brow at the program on. "My Little-"

"I'm not ashamed," the Gabite said, cutting her off. He repositioned himself to sit properly. "What are you doing here?"

"This is my cabin," Bonnie answered. "What are you doing here? You should be at work, unless you just stole that uniform."

At the mention of it the Gabite looked at the uniform he wrote. It was made to suit his body shape but the brown color clashed with his dark blue scales.

"Ugh. You know I didn't."

"I know, and since you didn't you should hull your tail back to the crew before you give these guys a reason to have you fired."

"You're too late," the Gabite informed her. "The complaints have been piling in from day one. They might can me today." He smirked. "Not like it matters though."

"It does ruin your credentials," Bonnie said.

"Not like it matters," The Gabite repeated. He returned to his previous position on the seat, resuming to shamelessly watch a show that was made for little girls.

Bonnie shook her head in disapproval.

...

Jewel nodded her head in approval.

The Staraptor had not taken long to wake up but it was enough time for her to securely tie it up to prevent it from struggling. She wanted the bird to stay still for what she was about to do.

What was she going to do. Simple. Bonnie was correct and she was going to use the bird for transportation. Though honestly, at first she was going to kill it (for her own reasons), but then she realized that it could make a good pet. All she needed to do was to pour some of her yang energy into it to make it smarter and stronger.

Before attempting anything that would have the large predatory bird become obedient towards her...

Jewel left the Staraptor on the ground lying down with its eyes covered with cloth she had. Knowing that it was still in its home forest would strengthen its will to get out of the chains, while not knowing anything left it deadly still. While it was amusing to see things try to escape it would be less so to see this bird fly off.

Jewel jumped onto the Staraptor's back. It didn't even stiffen unlike the other times she had done this to Partials. They were all fearful, which was the reason for why more than half of them were never seen by her again after she was made to pour the appropriate amount of yin or yang into them. The battles they were in were so brutal. Thinking back to those days made Jewel wonder of how this Staraptor might fair back in the place she were locked up in. Maybe it would have as fun a time as she had, until things stopped being fun and just became boring and repetitive.

Placing a paw onto the Staraptor's back Jewel expelled some of the yang energy she possessed into the bird. She could feel it unconsciously absorbing her yang anyway so she should start speeding up the process and give it its fill. None of the energy will stick of course, but it will power up the bird and recharge itself as long as she or any Whole were close to it.

...

**Poképedia**: Wholes and Partials **  
**

...

Hello. This is Allspice, the blue Mew with the awesome color changing scarf, on the scene.

Guess what. I'm not in the classroom right now, nor with my beloved students. That means that you guys will have to do for company right now. Luckily you caught me in a period of calm between all the fighting on this planet that I've been sent to, and right now I'm relaxing in a palace in one of the few royal cities that haven't been destroyed by those... Well, the whole thing might be hard to explain. Give me some time and I'll tell you later.

Want to know about the people around me though? Shaymin, Darkrai, and Entei are on other parts of the planet. That leaves me here with a few of the planet's Legendaries, Guardians, and Champions. Since you probably don't know what Guardians and Champions are I'll give you the short definitions on them. Guardians are protectors assigned to protect a planet populated by humans while Champions are Pokemon that have been chosen by Planetary Legendaries to become their apprentice. You know what Planetary Legendaries are, right? Well, that doesn't matter. What's great right now is that I saw the Mew here and that poor sap is nowhere near as cute as I am. Or is that a problem, for I had to enter the body of the less cute Mew to interact with this plane?

Whatever. I'm still cuter, so lets get onto the lesson!

Now, you've probably never heard about Partials and Wholes before now. That should be the case unless you visit other people and listen to them, but you wouldn't do that you me. Would you? Still, whether you do or not, I'll be going into the basics with you on these terms.

I've talked a bit about yin and yang right? The black and white halves of spirit energy controlled by Zekrom, Reshiram, and Kyurem. The bipolar Tao Trio, all with questionable sexualities even after twenty billion years or so. Yin and yang are the greatest difference that exists between Partials and Wholes as this is what defines which one you are if you're a Pokemon. Powerless humans and animals are usually much less affected by their yin-yang balance and energy.

The difference between Partials and Wholes on yin and yang is basically that the spirit of a Whole produces both yin and yang while a Partial only produces one of either energy.

I want food.

Navigating the large palace and passing by many on my way I eventually reach my quarters where I recline in the air and order food through room service. I look out a window at the world I was on. As a planet full of life yet not old enough to build up proper defenses I can say that they seem to be slow at this civilization thing. It took over a million years to reach their level of technology since we put humans here. They haven't even figured out how to create flying machines yet. While we wait for the food let me tell you more about our subject.

The reason that a spirit would only produce one of the two spirit energies is very easy to get. Exposure. Unlike other aspects of the spirit it's average concentration of yin and yang is lost with each reincarnation so every time a spirit is born it produces a new set of instructions on how much yin or yang it should produce based on how much spiritual energy it encountered while in an egg or womb. This would be in any period of time between the soul getting to a fertilized egg that's inside whatever the parent uses to reproduce, and whenever the body accepts the soul and the spirit chosen for reincarnation into it. The body usually accepts the soul just before hatching or being born. If the body doesn't accept a soul before then it ends up dead. So sad.

The way spiritual production is decided is like this. If the spirit is exposed to one of yin or yang while waiting for the body to accept it it will only produce the opposite type of what it was overwhelmingly exposed to when it's finally let in. Of the type that it was most exposed to it dumps all of that. I think it does this instead of going along with what it collected so far because the resulting production would be too unbalanced, too unstable. If it's exposed to both in relative evenness it will produce both in varying degrees of evenness. It does this to create balance with itself and spirits around it.

Now you understand how Pokemon end up as Wholes or Partials right? Good. So lets get into the other differences they have. How do they behave and what are their abilities.

Damn, that food is taking a long time to get here. I ordered it like, two minutes ago.

First, we look at the Partials. In terms of thinking they are more primal, they rely on instinct. In an untamed state you won't be able to communicate with one. They behave like animals. This is mostly because the their partial spirits aren't capable of making full use of the gifts of the Spirit Trio. This makes for less emotion, less willpower, and less knowledge.

In case you were wondering though, there is a way to make Partials think more like Wholes. You do this by taming them. Lacking one spirit portion of their spirit energy is what makes them the way they are, so if they absorb some of what they don't have they gain temporary slightly more advanced thinking. From whoever they receive this energy from gains the ability to transmit their thoughts and feelings to the Partials. The Partial usually understands and listens if they like whoever this person is, or sees them as an alpha.

So they get smarter, but will they start talking like Wholes or act like one. No, but some of the smarter species do get thoughts across and a level of understanding is reached. This understanding is lost when the Partial runs out of energy from the source of their missing portion, but it picks up right where it left off if that source, or a new on, returns. The brain boost from the leaching works so well that Pokemon Trainers often think that their captured Pokemon actually completely understands them. The thought transmission they send to their Partials are just really clear.

Going onto their traits ability wise I have to say that I don't envy them, in anything, at all. Some of the limits they have would kill me thousands of times over. These limitations come in various ways, such as base stats, suppression of spirit powers, a strict limit to the number of moves they can learn as well as a much smaller move-pool than Wholes of the same species have to deal with (I laughed when I saw what all of these combined reduced Flareon to). But then, there's the worst of them all. Levels. There's actually a limit to how strong they can actually become. Combined with stats this could screw over some species. Wholes have natural stats based on their species too but they can at least excel in any one with work put in. With the life I have I'd have reached my peak in less than a year if levels were placed on me. I'm over two billion right now and growing stronger every year.

Eh, you should know this stuff. The point is that Partials have restrictions on their powers that Wholes don't have. This isn't even something that came from having only one half of yin and yang. The limits were decided by my Aunt, who went to the Tao Trio about enforcing them. The reason she did this was to protect Partials and humans from Partials that could become too powerful.

As for Wholes. Do I even need to explain anything?

"Mew?"

Oh, is that the food? No. It's just a Latias that came into my room. Did I close the door? Probably not since I don't remember doing that.

Let's just listen to what she has to say.

"You've been radiating incomprehensible telepathic waves for the past few minutes. People have begun to worry."

Can't let that continue. People will start looking at me weirdly, like this Latias is right now. Bye! Thanks for listening. I'll see you again next time.

* * *

**So, we finally have Wholes and Partials explained. This all makes sense right? I was going to have a Pokepedia on Mystery Dungeons but since Feevo's group is exploring one and Blaze and Raven will ask questions I don't think that that will be necessary. Such a shame, since I was going to introduce Jirachi in that one. **

**Anyway, the next chapter I'm not sure what to do about. The thing that Feevo's group is doing easily takes up almost 30,000 words. I know how to word it but I'm not sure where to fragment it. Should I split it into three, two, or keep it as one? This may make the story seem like it's going slow right? But as soon as Jewel gets back in the plot things will get to a nice pace. **

_-5735 wordcount_


	7. That Counts as Stealing!

**Is now the time to mention that I'll be mixing and adding elements of the anime, manga, and game into this story? Cause I'm going to be doing that. You can see an example of it on this chapter but it really kicks off when we get back to Earth. Maybe I'll even add canon characters (I will).**

**Chapter 7.**

* * *

With Feevo's group we left off with them being blasted into an unexplored dungeon by Blaze's attack, which was a stroke of bad luck. Luckily they all ended up in the same room of the dungeon. Less luckily was the fact that the room was full of Partials, but the stairs being in the room made up for that. However, the room was huge, the stairs were on the other side and they would have to fight past all the Partials to get to it.

"Alright, my phone's okay!" Axel cheered as he checked his phone for any damage it might have received from the flames that threw them in here.

Good luck?

"Dude, focus on the Partials, not your phone," Feevo barked at the Sandile as he dodged an attack.

Did I mention that these Partials were tougher than the ones that were outside? Bad luck.

Bolt formed a light green orb of energy between his paws and fired it at a Spearow that was about to dive bomb Apple. This didn't knock it out but Apple's attention was brought to it and she finished it off with a Razor Leaf.

"Hey Josh. Do you see or sense Arbor anywhere?" Natalie asked the Treecko when she was able to get close to him while battling a Tangela.

"Huh. Ah, no," Feevo answered. He had honestly forgotten about the missing friend the instant they found themselves in the dungeon. Focusing on defeating the Partials around them seemed more favorable.

Natalie sighed as she kicked dirt into the face of the Tangela, which was trying to bind her with it's vines. It shrieked, which sounded like the rustling of leaves before Natalie bit into it with her horns and threw it away from herself. It landed in a pond that was stationed in the middle of the room. "I can't sense him either. So he might not be on the floor, or he's here but too far away for us to detect."

"So, we should check the floors for him right?" Feevo asked.

"We might as well, since we're here," Natalie said.

"Hey, who attacked us anyway?" Siri drawled as she got out of a Rapid Spin. The world around her was still spinning and she teetered for a few seconds before being righted by Star.

"It was Blaze," Bolt answered. He hopped to the side just before the ground he had been standing on exploded and a Nincada emerged from the spot.

"What!" Feevo yelled in outrage.

"Who?" Axel asked. He then grunted as the Razor Leaf from a Cherubi cut him. In retribution he used Incinerate on it. With the grass-type practically being a berry this didn't bode well with it and Axel was soon watching as it ran around, on fire, screaming and running into other Partials, burning them.

"He's some damn fire-type who keeps coming out of nowhere and attacking us," Feevo responded through gritted teeth.

"He's a violent Charmander about our age who came back with us on our mission today," Bolt reworded for Axel to understand better. The Pichu evaded the claws of the Nincada that came after him. The bug didn't focus on him for much longer as a BubbleBeam from Siri exploded on contact with it. The Nincada turned it's attention to the Squirtle only to be knocked out by a Hidden Power from Bolt.

"He attacked us?" Natalie frowned. "I hoped we could trust him more."

"Wasn't he supposed to be with Travis?" Star mentioned. She stayed away from the open mouth of a Bellsprout that was trying to get her in it's mouth and tried to get behind it to deliver a flurry of Pecks.

"They're conspiring against us!" Feevo exclaimed.

"No, they're not," Star said. She finally got behind the flexible plant and jabbed it harshly with several pecks from her glowing beak. With it fainting the group was finally free of Partials attacking them.

"Can we just forget about this?" Bolt asked. "We'll deal with Blaze when we get out of here. Right now let's focus on finding Arbor."

"We should split up," Axel proposed.

"That's a horrible idea," Star deadpanned.

"But it will let us cover more area in a shorter amount of time," Apple pointed out.

"Hey, there's candy on the floor!"

"Siri, don't eat that."

"Why not?" Axel asked as he took a Gummi from the floor and ate it. "It tastes alright."

"Are we going to split up or not?" Natalie demanded impatiently.

"Are we?" Bolt also asked.

"We don't have to go far from each other. Maybe we could split off into three groups. leave markers in where we've been and meet up back at the stairs," Apple said.

"Leave markers with what?" Feevo asked.

"Our spirit signatures. That should have been one of the first thing we learned in survival class," Star reminded him.

"I know!"

"Then why'd you ask?"

"What groups are we splitting up into?" Bolt asked everyone.

"Wait, that would put us into groups of only two to three. What if we get jumped?" Siri asked.

"I don't think that this is a high enough level dungeon to allow in more Partials than we can handle," Bolt said.

"Plus, the answer would be the same no matter how many Partials appear. Beat them up. No Partial in here is a match for us," Feevo added.

"Don't say that. You're going to jinx us!" Siri exclaimed.

It's not exactly clear when they got on point but the young Pokemon eventually managed to get into three groups. They were Natalie and Apple, Feevo and Star, then Siri, Bolt and Axel. A search through the floor revealed that their friend, Arbor, was nowhere there and they all met up back at the stairs to report that they had found nothing. So they went down the stairs and moved on.

...Just as Raven and Blaze were transported onto the floor along with a whole bunch of Partials to battle them. Or at least get beaten up by the vicious duo.

They didn't stop fighting for a second when they were transported into the dungeon. Anything stupid enough to get in between them were certain to be mauled.

Blaze slashed Raven away from him and belched out a Flamethrower at her. Raven dodged the flames as they followed her and burned any object, or Pokemon, they touched. When it seemed that the flames might catch up to her the Eevee vanished into thin air.

"Damn that Run Away ability," Blaze muttered before twisting and using Metal Claw to intercept Raven's Iron Tail as she appeared behind him. Though shocked Raven then created dozens of balls of Hidden Power around her and threw them at Blaze. He just braced himself and took the hit as he lacked the speed to evade an attack from so close. He didn't suffer any serious damage from the attack and rushed at Raven with his Metal Claw.

This is where the Partials come in to 'attack'. They didn't stand a chance.

A Spearow came down to dive bomb Blaze while a Tangela whipped at Raven with it's wines. Blaze caught the Spearow with little effort, set it on fire with a huff, and threw it away to flail on the floor. Raven evaded every slash or stab the Charmander continued to send to her along with the vines that flailed at her. Any vines that got close to Blaze he would just cut apart. In instant she saw her chance Raven snatched one vine in her jaws and leapt to the side the side as Blaze swing his claws down. A Quick Attack saw Blaze choking as the vine was wrapped around his neck and both ends were being pulled by Raven and the Tangela.

With him having sharp claws this didn't last long as Blaze immediately slashed at the vine, leaving it in pieces. This still left him hacking for a brief moment, which was enough time for Raven to charge into his gut with a Take Down.

Blaze landed on top of a Cherubi while Raven felt something wrap around her body and pull her back. She didn't look back as she used Hidden Power on the Partial. The vines loosened. Blaze grabbed the Cherubi he landed on, ignoring it's attempt at tackling him, ripped off it's second head, and tossed it in his mouth. He stood up as a dim white glow surrounded his body.

How this boy figured out that Natural Gift would work with Cherubi's second head I will not say.

Sensing that Blaze had just received a boost Raven decided to give herself a boost with Work Up. It came on easily as she was already quite roused, and she charged at Blaze with vigor.

By now Blaze using Flamethrower in this Woodland Dungeon was beginning to show it's consequences as the flames had caught on some of the plant and spread. It didn't help matters much when Blaze threw out another Flamethrower, albeit a weaker one due to being strangled earlier. Raven dodged to the side, but her tail was caught by the fire.

The room began to fill with smoke and the Partials, noticing that, ran out. Raven and Blaze didn't seem to pay it any mind until their power boosts wore off, but even then it was just Raven who was affected.

Raven struggled not to let it throw her off as smoke filled her lungs and stung her eyes. She rolled away from a Dragon Rage when she noticed the set of stairs in the room.

"Hey, come back here!" Blaze yelled as she disengaged using Run Away and he saw her jump down those flight of stairs. He went right after her.

...

"Where did this come from?" Reeno asked.

"I'd say that it just popped up," Travis said.

"And Raven and Blazes signatures lead into it, along with several other kids," Carla noted.

"Which brings the count up to what?" Reeno said.

"Thirteen," Travis provided. "So let's just get them out since I'm pretty sure that my dad won't be happy if he comes back to find out that Feevo and his friends got seriously injured playing in a dungeon while I was in town."

"What's wrong with that? We did the same when we were younger than them," Reeno said.

"They put up laws because we did that," Carla reminded him.

"Which makes this less okay now even though they are Junior Teams. You guys got your badges?" Travis asked his teammates.

"They both produced their Team Badges. "Always."

"Awesome. Let's go."

They all walked through the Woodland Dungeon entrance and felt the familiar sensation of being transported into the insides. The entrance behind them vanished along with their surroundings, and trees sprouted and grew to full size, tall or not, around them, forming an vaguely room-like area with only two paths where the trees did not grow, leading out. If one were to look past the barriers that the natural environment seemed to have formed into they would find that the space behind it were distorted and impassible. A few boulders, ridges, shrubbery, patches of flowers, stumps and logs, freshly fallen or rotting, fit in the scenery in no orderly manner. The whole floor was as natural as you would find in a woodland, aside from being in a dungeon and all the conditions that came along with that. A few Partials were in the room, but one quick attack on each knocked them out with no difficulty.

Travis scoffed. "I think I misspoke. If Feevo gets seriously hurt in a dungeon like this my dad might be mad at him instead of me."

Carla briefly scanned the floor with her aura sight. "No one in on this floor. The stairs are two rooms over through that hallway." She pointed at the hallway to the left of them.

"Right." With one Teleport Travis had them all by the stairs, in the room that was still burning from Blaze's Flamethrower.

"Whoa. He was definitely here," Reeno remarked through a cough.

Travis nodded. "I wasn't really doubting it before." With a flap of his wings he sent a Whirlwind through the room, putting a stop to the flames. "The fire looked like it wasn't burning for long though. We might meet them on the next floor."

They descended the stairs... and found themselves entering a Volcano Dungeon. No longer was there grass under their feet but instead hard, heated rock. The sky above them disappeared to be replaced by the ceiling of stone. This left their light source to come from just the magma pools and portions of the walls or floor which glowed hot from the heat behind or beneath them. Some parts of the floor, small in size or large, were cracked and heated red from the magma under it. Magma spouted occasionally from cracks in the wall or bodies of rock that rose from the ground, they dripped and pooled on the floor. Just as they were able to swear at the sight a wave of aura washed over them and the whole floor.

"Damnit! We switched dungeons," Reeno groaned. He reached for his Badge.

Carla checked the floor with her aura sight. "This floor is kind of hazy to my sight. The aura of the dungeon is putting a cloak over almost everything."

"Can you sense any Partials at least? I don't think we've explored this dungeon, so who knows how tough they are here," Travis said.

Carla tried to concentrate, but gave up after meeting a few seconds that brought nothing. "Ugh, no. Sorry Travis."

"That's okay Carla. We can just get out of here with our Badges and try to pass through the dungeon again," Travis said.

"We can't," Reeno said.

Carla frowned. "What do you mean, 'We can't'?"

"I tried to get us out of here the moment we came in here. The aura must be blocking the signals from the badge," Reeno informed his teammates.

"I've never heard of dungeon aura doing that," Travis commented as he produced his Badge telekinetically and tried to use it to exit them out of the dungeon. It wasn't working.

"We have an Escape Orb right?" Reeno asked. The answer wasn't good.

"...So we're stuck here," Carla muttered.

"Unless the stairway on this floor takes us back to the last dungeon, which they never seem to do whenever we switch dungeons like this." Travis sighed.

So began their long grueling trek through the Volcano Dungeon.

...

"He's not on this floor either," Natalie muttered. "I'd never expect Arbor to make it far into a dungeon by himself."

"Well, Cottonee are naturally fast. He probably hightailed it every time he saw a Partial," Axel said.

"Or maybe he got knocked out, thrown out of the dungeon, and we're wasting our time," Star suggested.

Siri shook her head in disagreement. "No, he was in the dungeon for almost half an hour before we came in. If he were going to get thrown out he would have by then."

"Well, technically speaking, dungeons bend the fabric of time so there's no guarantee that we're even in the same time frame that Arbor ended up in," Bolt said.

That stopped everyone in their tracks.

"Wait. What?" Natalie asked. Despite doing so she didn't really want to think about what Bolt had just said.

Bolt sighed before explaining. "Dungeons naturally have shifts in time frames over the course of the day. Normally Celebi will adjust the dungeon to make it safer for Pokemon to go in and out but I doubt she's gotten to this one yet."

"...Hey guys, I found some cool glasses on the floor. Anything that you found?" Feevo asked.

"Money," Siri said.

"A pretty scarf," Apples said.

"More candy." Axel munched on the Gummies he found.

"An Orb," Natalie said.

"Is it really okay to just take stuff of the floor in this dungeon?" Star asked.

Siri shrugged. "I don't know, but they all look like they're new."

"And the candy's fresh," Axel added.

"Why wouldn't it be okay it use things we find on the floor?" Natalie asked. "These things are actually useful."

Feevo chuckled. "Well, you know she doesn't like dirty things too much."

"You're right, I don't, but I just don't trust things that were left on the floor to eat," Star said.

"So you're talking about the candy?" Apple asked.

Feevo shook his head. "Nah, I think she's talking about a Donut."

"A donut..."

"Where did you find a donut in the dungeon?" Axel asked.

"On the floor. I was just confused. Where does the stuff in this dungeon even come from?" Star asked.

Bolt shrugged. "No one knows. But since we can't create many of the stuff we find in dungeons ourselves, it's better not to question as long as it stays useful."

"Bolt's right," Natalie agreed. "It's better to not question it."

The arrived at the stairway then. They would have met here in their groups if it had not been the last room they checked. Their senses told them that their friend was not in the room.

On another part of the floor Raven and Blaze were together, having agreed to settle their fight another time when Raven had sensed the signatures of Feevo's group. That was awhile ago and they might have met up with the group if they hadn't been lead to several dead ends from going after the signatures. The straight line that Raven's detection gave her offered no solution on what path to take in the maze-like dungeon.

"You suck at this," Blaze remarked as they walked away from another dead end.

Raven sneered. "Don't you have anything better to do than insult me?"

"Well, I was fighting you until you called that off," Blaze muttered.

"And that's as useful as you're going to get isn't it?" Raven grumbled.

Blaze rolled his eyes. "What? Do you expect me to help you? You pushed me into this fucking maze."

"What else do you expect while you're being a dick!" Raven spat. "People are _gonna _hit you." She turned another corner and Blaze followed her.

Blaze grunted. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"...Shut up, I can see them," Raven said. She looked into a room and the group was gathered right there, or at least half of them were. Half had already gone down a set of stairs and the rest were following. They hadn't noticed Raven.

Blaze looked over the corner too, right above her. Due to the close proximity she pushed him away immediately. Though slighted, just barely, he didn't resort to violence. Right now, at least.

"...Let's go," Raven said when Siri went down the stairway, leaving the room empty.

"There any reason for why you chose to wait for them to all go down before walking up to them?" Blaze demanded.

"I have my reason," Raven said. She did. As she noticed from going down the last set of stairs that they apparently led to a small space which was occupied by a portal that led to the middle of a random room in the dungeon. The portal closed immediately after one used it which made any progress back impossible. She was sure the ones that have already gone down the stairway had passed the portal. She wanted to approach the whole of the group at once, not in halves. Even if she had to redo the annoying part of finding them again.

They walked into the room and over to the stairs.

...

"Damn, that stings!" Reeno hissed as a few drops of magma hit his hide when the portion of a wall crumbled and rocks from it fell into one of the pools of molten rock.

"Reeno, you're the least deserving of us to be complaining," Carla muttered as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead. The heat sensitive Lucario wasn't faring too well in the Volcano Dungeon. They weren't prepared for this type of terrain.

Travis was feeling it just as badly. His wings drooped and he had to be careful with them around fire-types or any pools of magma. Even though they would just grow back rather quickly, in their absence he would be deprived of a few of his attacks, which he couldn't risk right now as the Partials in this dungeon were kind of dangerous if they got an attack in. As they went down each floor the enemies just got worse.

Did you know that they had gone down eleven floors and haven't switched back yet? The dungeon they came from didn't even have eleven floors. It had seven. Travis wasn't kidding when he said that they were never sent back when they switched dungeons. Reeno insisted that it was a curse when it had happened for the fourth time. Carla disagreed, at first.

Their Team Badges never regained their serviceable use of getting them out of the dungeon either. That sucked.

Carla jumped back when a Magcargo sprang out of a magma pool and spewed lava at her. The attack hit the barrier of her Protect while two attacks, from Travis and Reeno, missed the Magcargo as it sank back into the lava right after it had attacked.

Growling, Reeno shot his Ice Beam at the magma pool. This created steam as the two extremes of temperature met. It also solidified the surface of the pool.

"Ugh, that's slightly better," Travis breath. The dry air in here wasn't good for his. There wasn't much relief from it though, as the steam was gone in seconds.

"It'd be much better if the next stairway we see gets us out of here," Carla said.

Reeno gave her a straight face, then he laughed. "Please Carla! You know that's not gonna happen."

Carla sighed. "Of course it won't Reeno."

A few moments later they turned a corner and walked into a room. One second of seeing that neither the stairs nor any untraveled paths leading to the room were located there had Travis and Carla turn around and leave. Reeno would have followed if something in the room had not caught his attention.

There was something red sticking out of the crack of a wall. He glanced at his teammates and telling himself that he wouldn't be away from them long Reeno came closer to the item to investigate.

A closer look told the Croconaw that the item was not red from it's natural coloring, but due to the high temperature. The first thought Reeno had was to cool it down with Ice Beam, but then he remembered that doing that to a hot piece of metal could break it. With that in mind Reeno decided to carefully break off the rock surrounding the item.

Meanwhile, Travis paused at the sight of a Camerupt blocking the path. He waited for several seconds, and when it looked like the Partial was shifting to point it's volcano humps at him Travis raised his wings and blew it away using Whirlwind.

Travis grunted in annoyance. "Reeno, why didn't you attack?"

Carla looked around. "He's not here."

"..."

Sensing that Reeno was still in the dungeon and had not been thrown out (which was a blessing since it would have been hell there without a strong water-type) they followed his signature back to the room they had just come out of. They saw him crouched over a pile of rubble, a portion of the wall in front of him encased in ice. Because of his positioning though they couldn't see him inspecting the item on the floor that was still too hot for him to touch.

"Reeno, what are you doing?" Travis called.

"Hm." Reeno looked back at Travis. "Oh, hey. Have a look at this thing."

Intrigued, Travis walked over to where Reeno was crouched and lowered his head as Reeno pointed to something in the rubble. Delicately he used his telekinesis to isolate the object from everything else and raised it off the ground to get a better look. Carla occasionally alternated between keeping watch to make sure that no Partials would sneak up on them and looking at what Reeno had discovered.

"...It looks like an old key," Travis determined. "From the engravings on it I'd say that it belongs to something in a temple or ruins dungeon."

"So that means that we're going on a treasure hunt later, right?" Reeno asked.

Travis nodded. Reeno pumped his fist in satisfaction. "Yes!"

"I thought that you wanted to go on a vacation," Carla reminded him as she crossed her arms.

"There's no reason we can't do that first and go on the treasure hunt later," Reeno said.

Carla groaned before shooting off a Shadow Ball at the head of the same Camerupt they had encountered earlier as it stumbled around the corner.

...

"Now this is a nice change," Siri commented as she stepped into the next floor. Unlike the last two floors this one seemed to possess no rooms or corridors. There was just a large room of open space surrounded by walls of trees and other plants, a few Partials, and a path through some trees that lead to the next floor. Though it seemed that they were out of the dungeon at a glance due to the clear sky a distorted barrier of space still surrounded the entire area, keeping them in.

"Definitely better than the last two floors," Natalie said as she scanned over the open area. There was no Arbor, which meant that they needed to move on.

"Hey, there's WiFi here!" Axel discovered as he checked his phone.

Star looked around the area too and was by a leaf pile when something popped out of it in response to the Piplup's growing closeness. She jumped back and prepared to strike whatever it was with her glowing beak, but paused when she found it to be just a Wurmple which stared at her blankly. Uninterested it proceeded to climb up the tree behind it.

Feevo noticed. "Relax Star, no Partials are gonna hurt you in an open area... unless you tick them off"

"Mmh, right," Star muttered. Though she was sure that she sensed the presence of hostility from something nearby.

That something ended up revealing itself when out of nowhere an orange blur rushed past Star and right up to Feevo. The Treecko was unprepared when he received a Rock Smash to the face and ended up dazed on the floor. Luckily he hadn't been knocked out.

The offender (Blaze, if you hadn't known) sneered at the fallen Pokemon. "That's for throwing a rock at me earlier!"

A sigh was heard and the surprised group of Junior Rescuers (sans Axel, who was preoccupied with his phone as he found connection here) turned towards the familiar Eevee who approached them. "Blaze, I'm pretty sure that you should know why you shouldn't set up more conflict than you already have."

"What are you two doing here?" Star demanded.

"We're here because we fell into the damn portal thing," Blaze answered. The harshness and aggression in his tone surprised Natalie and Apple, whom he had been somewhat polite around during their previous meeting.

"Didn't you push us into the portal?" Siri asked.

"Says who?"

"Bolt," Axel answered absent-mindedly while he played games on his phone. Seeing him on his phone reminded Siri that she still had hers on her. The Squirtle took her MyPhone out of her shell.

Bolt sent a subtle glare at the Sandile for bringing him into this while Blaze sent his own glare at the Pichu.

Attention then diverged to Feevo as he groaned and rubbed his muzzle where he was punched. Natalie ran over to him. "Are you okay?" she asked while helping him up.

Feevo prayed to the Gods that a blush wouldn't appear on his face from Natalie being so close. Seeing the smirk on Blaze's face told him that it was present. The sight of his attacker also pissed him off.

"Gah!... You!" he yelled and stammered.

Seeing Feevo red in the face and mistaking it for solely anger Natalie held onto him tighter as a form of restraint. This only left him as a darker shade of red.

Feevo let out a few sounds in his wake as he tried to find words in his anger and embarrassment, however Blaze grew impatient with this in seconds.

"How the fuck don't you know how to speak!" he snapped.

In response Feevo took a deep breath. Seeing this as an attempt of his to calm himself Natalie let go of him, which helped more than she would know.

Finally, a few moments had passed, and Feevo's emotions had gone down enough for him to speak. There were insults he would have liked to throw at the Charmander but with Natalie here that might just make him look bad. So he went straight with the question. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"That's the exact same question that Pinky here," Blaze jabbed a finger at Star's direction, "asked and I don't feel like repeating myself."

"You really didn't answer the question though," Natalie pointed out.

"Does it matter?" Blaze snarled.

Natalie raised a brow. He was far different from when she had met him earlier.

"Hey! Don't talk like that to her," Feevo barked.

"Or what?"

Feevo glared, though it's not like he wasn't glaring before then. Natalie chose that moment to move away from them and over to Apple. "You really want to know?"

At the question Blaze nearly laughed, but instead he crossed his arms and nodded. "Oh damn, yes! I'm genuinely curious about what you think you can do to me since, if you forgot, I just put you down with one hit. You're weak as hell!"

Feevo seethed with anger, which Blaze smirked at.

"What? So you're taking pride in a cheap shot?"

"Any shot counts if it did it's job. You're just lucky that I only punched you," Blaze paused, "but it sounds a lot like you're asking for more."

At the words Feevo went on the defensive, though it wasn't necessary since Blaze wasn't poised on attacking him at the moment. He found the Treecko to be too weak to be worth it. The suggestion he made however, was enough to draw attention to some of the onlookers who were, till then, impassive towards the affair.

"Stop. Stop right there." Raven walked in between the two lizards. "If you're going to fight stall it for until we're out of this maze. If you do this right now you're just going to waste everyone's time."

"Since when were you worried about the clock?" Blaze asked bitterly.

"Always, but you wouldn't care so why would I mention it?" Raven replied. "The less time we spend in this- What is this place?" she inquired, wanting to call this trap by its proper name.

"Mystery Dungeon," Apple supplied.

Raven nodded. "Right. Mystery Dungeon. -the better as I see it."

"You're right, but we can't just leave," Star said.

"Why the hell not? This place sucks!" Blaze remarked.

"One of our friends were swallowed by the dungeon and since we were in anyway we decided to search for him," Natalie answered.

"Yeah, until _someone _Flamethrowered us into the dungeon we were just going to have Travis' team check out the place for him," Feevo said accusingly, sneering at Blaze.

Blaze scoffed. "You were going to have your brother explore such an easy place like this? Damn, You're weak!"

"He's my cousin, not my brother," Feevo muttered hotly.

"Plus, this dungeon just popped up so we had no idea how strong the Partials inside were," Star added.

"Yeah, about the Partials," Raven started, "they were much more aggressive here than anywhere else I've ever seen. These aren't species that usually attack as eagerly as I've seen them do. Can I ask why?"

"It's easy. They want to feed off of our power." When he saw Raven tilt her head Bolt continued. "The aura of dungeons affect the inside area of them in strange ways. The effect that dungeon aura has in all dungeons is making Wholes extremely attractive to Partials, as well as a source of power that they will attack without question. If a Partial defeats a Whole while in a dungeon they evolve to their next stage or grow stronger if they are already at their last stage, and somehow they know this. Since they want to win they'll always attack with hostile force. Fortunately being in a dungeon gives you it's healing properties giving anyone inside slow regenerating abilities. Though even then the dungeon warps out anything that faints."

Blaze shrugged while Raven nodded. That last part was very true. She hadn't thought about it but the injuries which Blaze had given her had healed very quickly while walking about on the second floor. The burn she received on her tail had even gone away when she came into the second floor. "Hm, makes sense."

"A smartass as always," Feevo muttered, though there was some fondness in his tone.

"It's one of the benefits of reading," Bolt replied.

"Though it wouldn't be surprising to find that a dumbass like you would find that complicated," Blaze said.

Feevo scowled. "Like you're one to talk. I went to school. What education did you get?"

"I grew up in a library," Blaze calmly answered.

Previously thinking that the Charmander grew up in the wild Raven gave him a look, then disregarded what he said when the thought that he could be lying came to her. She really wouldn't put it above him. She decided to focus on the next thing she wanted to know.

"So where's the exit in this dungeon?"

"To get to the exit we'll have to go down several floors through the stairs on each one. In the last floor we'll be released into wherever this dungeon leads to. If we can make it there we can walk out and return to town from wherever we end up," Star explained.

"Too much walking. Are there any other options?" Blaze asked.

"Faint and the dungeon will kick you out," Feevo suggested contemptibly.

"Too pathetic," Blaze said thoughtlessly.

"Well the only other options are Escape Orbs and Team Badges which we don't have so you're stuck with the first option," Natalie said.

Blaze huffed but didn't say anything.

"Yeah, stuck with us," Feevo repeated. "But don't think that you'll just be sitting back while we search around."

"That's reasonable," Raven said.

"I have nothing to do with your friend," Blaze spat. "Bite me!"

Before Feevo could respond with anything they could set off a pointless argument Apple reached for a compromise. "Can you at least help us fight Partials and get through the dungeon?"

"I think that it was a given that I would," Blaze said. "If these guys want a fight I'll give them one."

"That's good enough," Natalie said. "And for the lack of conflict you'll be on my search group."

"I already said that I don't care about your friend."

"I know, but you have to go on one group when we split up to scout the floors."

Raven was about to say that she could save them all time by searching the whole floor in an instant but then she remembered how quickly that guided her to this group on the last floor. She decided to not mention it for now but speak up in she felt anything.

"Which means that Raven is coming with me and Feevo," Star said.

Indifferent to this Raven just hummed as a response.

Siri put her phone back into her shell. "Hey, does anyone else know about those two kids that ran away?"

"No, who are they?" Natalie asked.

"They are... Miss Setauri and Kluss' kids."

"You mean Tails and Radar?" Feevo asked feeling concerned. He was well acquainted with the two (or rather just Tails) as his uncle and the Buizel's mother were on the same team. The Buizel's spirit had Feevo take an instant shine to him and he hadn't noticed anything recently to cause Tails to run away. He had last spoken to him just yesterday though. Anything may have happened in that time.

"Where is this coming from? Who's claiming this?" Star asked.

"Mrs. Sawnroot. It says that she's been running around all day looking for them and asking others if they've seen them."

"I thought that she was running around because Arbor was swallowed by this Mystery Dungeon," Natalie said.

"Ask Axel to confirm that," Bolt recommended.

Feevo did just that. "Hey Axel."

"What?" the Sandile asked without taking his attention away from his phone. Doing so would get him killed and lose him he tournament that he had entered while here. He was so close to winning.

"Does Arbor's mother know about him being in here?"

"Nah," he briefly answered as he reflected an enemy attack.

"That... doesn't change anything. We still have to find Arbor, and it would be better for Mrs. Sawnroot if she doesn't have to worry about him as well as Tails and Radar," Star said.

"Right. So team, we move on!" Feevo declared. "We can't upset Mrs. Sawnroot anymore than she is right now with her son not coming out of this dungeon."

"Didn't you say that Wholes are kicked out when they faint. With that in place why do you have to search for him anyway?" Raven said.

"This dungeon just formed and probably hasn't stabilized yet. It may not work like other dungeons do." Bolt said. "You've noticed how the Partials weren't teleported when they faint right?"

Raven hadn't been paying attention to the Partials but nodded to move things along. She followed the group as they began to move on and Siri pulled Axel away from his tree. His protest of having lost due to this seemed to fall on deaf ears.

...

Team Aerostorm had just reached the 17th floor and they were beginning to run out of supplies. They were lucky that the burns received by Reeno and Carla on the last floor were cured when they went down to the next floor, but that was just the problem. They went down to the next floor. Not only were they not out of this dungeon yet but the farther down they went the hotter it became. This was a horrible place for an unprepared steel or grass type and Reeno was beginning to feel the effects of the heat too. It was becoming harder to use his water attacks. He assured his teammates that he could still use them, it was just becoming harder.

Carla shot off an Aura Sphere into the face of a Graveler that was in the room. To her frustration the one attack didn't knock it out but it was defeated by the follow up Water Pulse from Reeno.

Travis used Synthesis to repair the damage that he had sustained on the last floor. It was a Synthesis weakened by the utter lack of sunlight in the dungeon but it provided healing nevertheless. A look at Reeno and Carla made him curse for not having taken an approach to healing moves in their training. Being a psychic he knew that he could learn a plethora of defensive or healing techniques that could be applied to the whole team. He knew that they both could learn at least one healing technique yet they've always relied on potions, berries, or a Nurse Joy to heal their wounds. Right now they had none of those.

Carla picked up a Max Elixir that lay on the ground. Thankfully they were able to find useful items on the ground, though they were few and far between. This isn't as irritating though as not finding even one Escape Orb so far.

"This sucks," Reeno groaned, lagging behind the other two as they went into the hallway.

"You don't say," Carla grumbled.

"He's not wrong at least," Travis said. He raised his wings to send off a Razor Leaf at the Monferno in his path. It jumped right over the leaves and charged at him, curling up into a Flame Wheel. With Psychic he caught the wheel of fire and slammed it into the ground. Not stopping there he tormented the monkey's body and mind with the radiation of psychic energy from a Confusion. With the Partial dazed he could use a weaker move focused on causing damage at the cost of the potent manipulation and force he could exert on it's body. Psychic could cause greater damage but he didn't want to use up more energy than he needed to.

The super effective move did it's job, and with the help of Reeno's Water Gun the Monferno was soon gone.

Thankfully it wasn't too difficult to defeat the Partials that they met, though they were growing tougher. It might not be long before the Partials become dangerous enough for a Monster House to do them in if their supplies continued to dwindle.

"..." Travis went as he entered a room to see a Kecleon merchant's carpet set out.

"Welcome. Feel free to look around for what you like," the Kecleon greeted them as he gestured to the merchandise neatly arranged on tables, standing shelves, or for the larger stuff, the carpet.

Well this is convenient.

"... Carla, do you have the team's cash card?" Travis asked the Lucario.

"Uh. It's right here," Carla said as she produced the card from her bag.

"Great. We're going shopping then. Buy as much as your bags can carry and then some," Travis directed the two.

The two of them nodded and walked to items that caught their eyes as Travis walked to the Kecleon.

"Good Afternoon young traveler. Do you see anything that you like?" the Kecleon merchant inquired.

"More than enough," Travis responded. "I just wanted to know the name of this dungeon."

"Name? This dungeon has no name. It's been unmarked, undisturbed, and unknown by all for centuries until you three entered it today."

In response to his answer they all stared at him.

"Then how did you find it and set up shop here, and why? If it's been unknown to all for centuries there couldn't possibly have been anyone traveling through it," Carla said.

"Yes, but don't forget, you three _did_ enter this dungeon and you three _did_ come upon my shop. You can call it trader's secret or intuition on my part but it all works out in the end," the Kecleon replied.

"It all works out in the end," Travis repeated to himself. "Works for me." With no more question to ask the Tropius went on to examine the offered goods.

Reeno carried a box of Full Heals he had taken from a shelf. Already decided on taking those he searched the tables for anything useful. Coming upon the accessory items he paused. Unlike orbs, which usually had some sort of design on each to distinguish them from other types, accessories weren't marked to reveal their effects on the wearer. Reeno put a hand on the items that interested him to activate the effects on himself.

The yellow bow boosted his defense for as long as he touched it.

The grey cap turned his scales adhesive which made it stuck to his hand until he stopped feeding it his spirit energy.

A look through some lens made all of his senses sharper.

A black band removed any drowsiness that he felt.

He touched several other accessories. Some of them had no apparent effects while others had effects as apparent as causing him to pass through the floor.

Finally he came to a pink scarf, which warped him out of the room.

The others in the room were alarmed by this, though for different reasons.

"Reeno?" Carla said, worried that he might have been sent into magma.

"He stole my merchandise!" the Kecleon merchant bellowed.

"What!?" Travis exclaimed. He'd heard tales of those who had been labeled as thieves by a Kecleon merchant. They weren't pretty.

A second later Reeno ran back into the room with the Full Heals and Warp Scarf in hand. He had only been warped into the next room.

"Guys, this could really come in handy in a tough- What's he so mad about?" Reeno asked, pointing at the fuming merchant.

"Any form of thievery will not be left unpunished at a Trader's shop!" the Kecleon yelled venomously.

"What?" Reeno said.

"You want this to go punished? He didn't even steal anything. All of your merchandise is in your shop and nothing has even been broken," Carla tried to reason.

"Is this about the scarf?" Reeno asked. A second look at the Kecleon merchant answered his question and left a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He slowly set the stuff in his paws down and backed away from them. "Dude, if it's that important to you, you can just keep the stuff."

"Right, and even if you had lost anything we have enough money to pay for it," Travis offered.

"Money? That's not the issue here!" Dozens of Kecleon shot out of the walls startling the hell out of the Rescuers. "Don't think that you could ever buy your way out of adhering to the sacred bond of trust between shopper and trader!"

"What kind of trust is that when you attack us for the slightest upset!?" Carla demanded.

Faced with the many murderous and intimidating looking Kecleon Reeno tried to say anything that could get him out of this mess."Can't we just end this with an apology or something. It was an accident. Isn't there some kind of fine we can pay instead."

The Kecleon merchant let out a haughty laugh. "Oh, there's a fine you can pay." These words did anything but soothe the three.

He jabbed a claw in their direction and yelled. "_IN BLOOD!_"

Team Aerostorm paled as the other Kecleon closed in on them.

...

It seemed as if her senses have failed her again. Raven felt the energy signature of a Whole on the fourth floor yet she couldn't feel any sign that it was even alive. Perhaps it could have been a marking. She had noticed many of those on the second floor. Although understanding why they had been left behind Raven hated the markings that these guys left behind. They made tracking much harder than it should be.

Before Feevo could get to it Raven knocked out a Sunkern with Hidden Power. The Treecko huffed out his frustration. Incidents like that had been bothering him ever since the groups split into three. Raven has been hogging all of the kills and doing so while looking like it was easier to get out of bed in the morning. He already had Blaze saying that he was a weakling but here was someone else actually going ahead and upstaging him.

Still, her attitude at least was much better than anything that the Charmander has given so far. Looking to be the same age as the rest of them her hanging out with the group was a real possibility, though her experience seemed to be on terms with someone older than them.

"This rooms empty, let's go back to the stairs," Star said as they came into the last room on the section of the floor they had to search.

They ended up being the first group to return to the stairs. With one hit from Raven the Taillow by the stairs fell out of the air and landed on it's head. Miffed with the Eevee once again beating him to the kill Feevo just sat on the steps and crossed his arms.

Meanwhile, Natalie and Apple were returning to the stairs with Blaze. Like Feevo's group they had found nothing in their search but Partials and a few items on the floor. The search, though fruitless, was much easier than their first one as Blaze had been easily knocking out any Partials that he saw. It was a pleasant surprise to the two, along with the fact that the Charmander was much more civil without Feevo or Raven around, though he was still aggressive. As long as he aimed that aggression at their enemies though they were fine. He worked for them well enough even if he declined to search.

Blaze yawned as he stared at his claws. "Uh. Aren't you two a Rescue Team or something."

"We're only a Junior Rescue Team," Apple answered.

Natalie nodded. "We won't become an actual Rescue Team until we get evaluated and get a passing grade of work on our first mission."

"When's that going to happen?" Blaze asked.

"When we fill in an application for evaluation. We would have already done it awhile ago but we decided to postpone it in favor of more time spent training."

Blaze frowned. "So you're weaker than that Treecko."

Natalie returned the expression. "No, it's just that we plan to join a guild instead of forming an independent team. It's usually harder to get in but if we can we'll be able to go on special treasure hunting missions."

"You two don't look like you'd be in this for the money. From the name I'd assume that a Rescue Team focuses on rescuing Pokemon. I don't see what treasure hunting has to do with anything," Blaze said.

"In this field it would be called an Exploration Team but honestly there's no restrictions on what a team can pursue so the titles we give them can be considered meaningless. You can just call them Teams with no problem. As for the money, that's really not all there is. Usually there are artifacts or enchanted weapons that can be found on missions. We'll also be able to find and explore many abandoned places. Most of the money we make though goes to the guild in exchange for letting us and anyone we recruit on the team live there."

"Is there an option to not live there and keep your money?"

"Yes, but it's not recommended," Apple said.

"In addition to the guild being so comfortable that the fee is worth it it gives your recruits a place to live and you won't miss any emergency alerts. There's little reason to not live there if you aren't stingy," Natalie said.

"I guess, and what's the benefits of being an independent team?" Blaze asked.

"You aren't restricted by a guild or any restriction that they can place over you but that leaves you in that hands of HAPPI," Natalie answered.

Blaze nodded. "Right."

They reached the stairs room and met up with Feevo's group. Relaying the fact that none of them had found anything they waited for Bolt's group to come back.

Though hoping for results they were expecting little, so it was a surprise when Siri rushed into the room.

"Guys, I found something!"

Bolt and Axel came in soon after in a calmer manner.

"What is it?" Feevo asked, jumping off of the stairs. At least he tried to. He didn't quite jumped high enough and his foot got caught on an edge, causing him to fall and tumble down the stairs. Blaze laughed at him the whole time.

Siri took something out of her shell. When her friends stepped up to look it was a yellow bowtie. To Raven's senses it carried the foreign energy of the Whole that she had felt. To everyone else the energy registered as...

"This is Arbor's bowtie," Natalie said as she registered it. "But I'm guessing that you didn't find him."

Axel shook his head. "Not a puffball, but we did find candy!" With that he began to throw the Gummies he had found on the floor into his mouth.

"Well, at least we know that he made it this far. For how deep he's gotten in he might not need our help at all," Natalie said.

With a bruise to show for his fall Feevo made it back up the stairs. "Though, it's not like we chose to come in here," Feevo muttered, leering at Blaze. The Charmander responded by flipping him off.

"Yeah, but he must be lonely here by himself," Siri said as she put the bowtie back into her shell. "We should hurry to catch up to him, even if we only end up spending a few more minutes here at the end."

"Who's to say that he's still even in the dungeon?" Star asked. "He came in almost a half hour before us and we've been wasting time with searching for him on each floor he wasn't on."

Apple nodded. "Right. So do you think that we should quit it with splitting up and searching the floors."

"Maybe, but our tracking detection skills still aren't good enough to instantly search out an entire floor all at once."

Blaze scoffed. "Seriously? Talk about spoiled."

Raven put a paw up when she saw the unpleasant look that Blaze received from Feevo. "You, don't provoke them. Though still, I can sense where all living things on the floor are at any moment if you need that skill."

Bolt raised a brow.

Siri smiled. "That's convenient."

Star frowned. "And you didn't tell us this before we searched this floor because..." Raven just shrugged in response.

"It really doesn't matter though. Since we know this now Raven can help us move through the remaining floors quicker," Natalie said.

Everyone else nodded. "Right."

...

Team Aerostorm had just reached the 23th floor. As lucky as they were to have reached this floor they weren't happy. They didn't want to have reached this floor. They wanted to be off the floor and out of the dungeon. Enough was this desire that they almost wished that they had been knocked out in the incident with the Kecleon and taken out of the dungeon. Though that would mean that everything in their bags would be replaced for Plain Seed as were the rules of Trader's Laws. They couldn't risk that with the key they found. Who knows where it could end up leading them.

As for how they escaped the Kecleon. It was the most frantic encounter of their lives and they were far too outmatched to not run away after the first minute. The Kecleon followed them of course, partially to deliver the punishment that they've earned and surprisingly less so because they stole a ton of merchandise on their way out. Reeno and Travis had done the stealing and Carla was not pleased at all. The argument of, "They already labeled us as thieves so why not?" did nothing to quench her discontent, but putting her natural sense of justice aside she would admit that it helped them. As soon as they reached the next floor, where the Kecleon abandoned the chase, another wave of dungeon aura hit, disabling some of their attacks. It was extremely frustrating to prepare to use an attack then remember that you couldn't.

"This sucks!" Reeno groaned after having walked with his teammates through the floor for the past fourteen minutes, longer than they usually spent on a floor.

"Are you going to say that on every floor?" Carla demanded.

"Hey, don't blame him. It does suck," Travis said. Reeno smiled at the backup.

Carla sighed and just kept her senses keen for any Partials that could show up. They were getting sneakier in their approaches on the team.

Travis himself focused on building up Soul Energy to load into his attacks. He hated having to waste energy on more than one attack and wished for the Partials to fall quickly without killing them. Knowing that it would not cause any real damage the Tropius ignored the painful sensation that hit his body when his own Soul Energy came in contact with it.

The effect of the Soul Energy showed when one Air Cutter defeated a Houndoom. Though reluctant Carla and Reeno followed his example after seeing him down Partials with one attack several times. Suddenly the heat in the dungeon didn't seem so bad.

"Hey, what are we going to do if we find another Kecleon merchant in this dungeon?" Reeno brought up.

"We buy some stuff and try not to mess it up this time," Travis said with little thought.

"Huh?"

"The aura of the Kecleon suggested that they initiated the fight for the fight and chase itself rather than for any retribution of your theft. I've heard that Kecleon merchants are very forgiving and will welcome you back with open arms after you steal from them," Carla explained.

"Awesome! So they won't attack us if we see one of them again?"

Travis shook his head. "Nah."

Reaching a dead-end they turned back and Travis sighed, recalling the one room on the floor that they had not gone into yet. He'd just stopped at the entrance and turned around when he noticed that it was a trap and there were no stairs. There was however another hallway connected to the room which must have led to the stairs. He gave his teammates a warning before teleporting them all to the entrance of the room. A look inside gave Travis the sight of many items scattered across the floor and Partials clinging to the ceiling.

...

Tying for second strongest in the nation the of Astriad, Blue Fortune enjoyed the favorable position as a first-class guild.

The Guild Master too was enjoying a favorable position, in his comfortable nap. The Houndoom laid curled up on the top roof deck of the guild building having gone there to escape an overflow of work that had come in. Sure it was bad-mannered to walk around his responsibilities to slack off but he was confident that his second-in-command had things under control as always. The guild had not seen much better times before the Weavile had appeared, with the Guild Master himself yes, but if not Blue Fortune might not be the first-class guild it is now.

A gentle breeze blew by, not waking the Houndoom from his sleep but seeping his tail an inch to the left. He breath softly, being the only one able to view the green lands visible from the top of the building yet neglecting the sight.

A creak stirred the Houndoom awake. A silent hope that it wasn't his second-in-command was left satisfied when a feminine voice reach his ears.

A Smeargle stood at the door leading to the roof deck and turned back to the Pokemon behind her. "Like I said, he's up here."

That could be the Weavile coming. The Houndoom crawled onto his paws and released a yawn of hot breath.

It wasn't the Weavile coming though. A Leafeon appeared at the door instead. He was accompanied by a Glaceon who walked behind him.

"I never doubted you for a second Canvas," the Leafeon asserted.

'Canvas' (whose name was actually Sam) rolled her eyes. "You and your lies."

"Just watch him practice them. It'll leave you disgusted and impressed," the Glaceon claimed as he put down a large tray that he carried in his mouth. It held various candies and ice cream, of which Sam occasionally took.

"I'd like to stick with the words 'amazed' and 'aroused'. They work so much better with what goes on afterwards, right Criss-Cross Applesauce?" The Leafeon winked at the Glaceon (whose name was, thankfully, actually Rime).

A small blush came upon Rime's face but a voluntary decrease in his temperature had it fade fast.

"You two honestly used the words 'disgusted' and 'aroused' to describe lying? I'd like to see how that works."

"If you want to be an audience all you have to do is ask," the Leafeon told her (his nickname, which everyone called him by, was Solar. His real name sucked so let's not be bothered by it).

Rime grinned. "It's actually more of a comedy routine, if you think about it."

"If you want to call it that, go ahead. I just hope that Alpha here will be of favorable audience. Not too drunk, not too sober."

'Alpha' (whose real name was Lorenzo) let out a hearty chortle having listened to the three. "I'm more than enough of either, if that's what you'll like."

Solar trotted up to Lorenzo. Rime picked the tray back up and followed him while Sam just stood back at the door. "It is. So how's the view up here?" Solar walked past the Houndoom and jumped onto the railing that stood at the edge of the deck. Rime placed the tray on the ground next to their Guild Master.

"Aww. Is this for me?"

"No, but you can take some if you want." Sam offered. It was for her and her sweet tooth actually.

"Alpha, have you ever considered repainting?" Solar asked as he gazed into the field of grass around the guild which disappeared into moderate woodlands.

Lorenzo raised his head from a grab at something off the tray. "Mmph. The building?"

"No, I mean the fields," Solar said. He turned back to Lorenzo while keeping his balance on the railing. "A light blue would fit the grass around us nicely. It'd go with our name even."

"We can discuss it over a drink," Lorenzo decided.

Sam frowned. "You're actually considering it?"

Lorenzo aimed a carefree smile at the Smeargle. "There's no reason not to consider it. Any opinion-"

"-deserves a chance to be heard." Rime finished. "Yes, we know that."

Solar beamed. "And that's why I'm here."

"Right now? For the grass?" Lorenzo inquired. He laid back down onto his side and clicked his claws onto the wood floor.

"No, I came up here for a different reason. The grass is just something that came up. You know me," Solar said while shaking his head gently.

"This is about a dungeon that formed in the woodland." Rime revealed. "It's in our area of jurisdiction so we take responsibility for rating and stabilizing it."

Lorenzo nodded casually. "I see, but that can be carried out without me," he pointed out. "I like to be informed but this isn't vital stuff."

"I thought the same thing when Criss-Cross Applesauce told me," Solar said in a cheery tone. "It didn't seem like much to care about until I saw the little call that Bulletproof left me. Some kids are bouncing around in the dungeon. Yeah, we have to do something about that."

"And we want you to make a few calls," Sam said.

"To the parents," Rime added.

The confused look that their Guild Master gave them had Solar continue. "We can imagine that having your child in danger is a hard spot for most parents that they'd want only the best to handle. This is why we think that the parents will take the news better with you telling them. Plus you know some of them. Your kid and Aiden's are friends."

"So you want me to call up a few people I may or may not know to tell them that their children are in an unstabilized dungeon," Lorenzo said with a slightly amused expression.

"Hey, we do it all the time. We just want to see if you can do it better," Sam commented.

Knowing that this was true Lorenzo easily gave in and shrugged. "Alright, but I'm going to have to get in the mood."

"A lot of that is alcoholic you know?" Sam said pointing to the tray full of sweets.

Rime nodded.

Lorenzo smiled warmly in response to that news. It was nice to know that they were making this easy for him.

...

Pokepedia: Free Period

...

Let's see. Mew wasn't teaching the children anything and they were left in the classroom to entertain themselves while Mew was away and someone else was to be there to watch them. Celebi was there for literally a second, told them to not disappoint her then left. So they were alone with a laptop connected to Mew's big screen at the front of the classroom which usually used for presentations. Now it was showing a movie from a Webflix account which belonged to the parent of one of the students. Only half of them were paying attention though.

Some of them were on their phones or laptops, others were doing work for classes and others were talking among themselves.

"That's great. I'll just tell my dad of uncle Olivier coming over. Bye Artus, I'll see you next week," Akaidi said to her cousin over the phone before hanging up.

"Hm," Gamma said. "Artus is visiting?"

Akaidi shook her head. "No, just my uncle. My father and him need to organize the troops for this year's Christmas."

"Then why'd you say that you're going to see him next week?" Lotus asked.

"I'm going to be playing with him in the Dreamworld during the Winter Events," Akaidi answered. "The Eons are throwing a tournament of Lucidity."

"Boring," Lithium grunted after having finished a slice of pizza from her plate. Yeah, someone ordered pizza.

"So is all of this Earth stuff," Akaidi replied. "The Dreamworld is the only place that I can go to to try stuff from other worlds until I'm an adult."

"And that will takes what? A million years?" Gamma said.

"Subtracting our ages," Lotus muttered.

"Who cares about how long it will take until we can visit other planets. I'm just waiting for a Christmas where our parents don't keep us locked in our homes." Lithium sneered.

"I'm waiting for a Christmas where my father rips off Santa's beard like he promised me," Creed added in.

"And I'm waiting for a Christmas where I get my tattoos," Sipa said, smiling to herself at the thought.

Creed laughed. "Haha! Are you sure that you've been good enough to get what you want? I mean, you're always hanging with Lithium."

In response the mentioned Cyndaquil threw her drink into his face. She then laughed. "I just do what I think is best to do, unlike you. Your Guardian is a mess. Aren't you usually around that girl there?" She pointed at Lacrosse who sat somewhat away from them with a Cubchoo and Snorunt. They were watching a movie on the Cubchoo's laptop.

Creed shook his head both to shake of the drink and express his answer. "No! That horror that their watching is an enemy to all of mankind."

Lotus beamed. "I'll have to check it out then."

"Do whatever you want, just don't drag it back to us!" Gamma snapped. "I know what movie he's talking about and I hate it."

Lithium snickered. "We're girls. You two ain't getting any sympathy."

"Nah. You're cold and a pack of witches," Gamma corrected.

Lithium shrugged. "Either way."

"I'd actually like to be a witch," Akaidi chirped.

Sipa nodded. "One with cool runes and a spell book."

"You have spell books at your house and can already perform magic," Lotus pointed out. "Even without the clan you can get very good at it on your own."

"Whoa, whoa! I'm not talking about joining a clan," Sipa said. "Those places are full of freaks and weirdos."

Lithium nodded. "Yeah. You don't want nothing to do with those things."

"The clan would still be a fun place to visit though," Akaidi said.

Mutters and several nods came from the others.

"Whatever."

"Can we get them to curse Ringo's brush?"

"I guess it'll give us something to do."

"Why his brush?"

* * *

**Like I said, Pokepedia is partially an excuse to introduce characters. Yeah, the students are characters, and pretty important ones.**

**Hmm. Only a little over ten thousand words on this chapter. Maybe this dungeon thing won't be over thirty thousand words after all. Whatever. Feevo's gang exits the dungeon next chapter and new characters will be introduced. There are also some changes in plans for some of the characters.**

**Read, review, favorite, or follow. **

**EDIT: I might be experimenting with the summary, not the title, until I get the right feel.**

_-11,755 wordcount_


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